White Shadows
by glindalovesshoes
Summary: "Just leave me alone!" And that's what he'd done. He'd let her pack her few belongings and take the taxi to the airport. When realization had hit him, it'd been too late. For the second time he'd lost the woman he loved." What would have happened, if Jane hadn't been able to reach the plane in time and tell Lisbon he loves her? Set in a Blue Bird AU. Jisbon. Romance/Drama
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Since I'm suffering from serious writers block for my FF Tear of Paradise, there was this idea I just couldn't get out of my head... so I just had to write it all down. This is a new multichapter fic and I really hope you enjoy it!

Liefs

**Summary:**

_"Just leave me alone!" _And that's what he'd done. He'd let her pack her few belongings and take the taxi to the airport. When realization had hit him, it'd been too late. He'd been too late, like so often in his pathetic excuse for a life. For the second time he'd lost the woman he loved." What would have happened, if Jane hadn't been able to reach the plane in time and tell Lisbon he loves her? Set in a Blue Bird AU. Jisbon. Romance/Drama

**Disclaimer: **Not mine!

White Shadows

(1) Look at all these changes

She had been gone for six months now and all he felt was pure emptiness inside his heart. The only thing that had always kept him going, the only person who'd given him a reason not to kill himself after his over-a-decade-long quest for revenge was over, was gone. The last time they had seen each other, she'd angrily splashed a glass of water right into his face and called him a son-of-a-bitch.

_"I just don't want you to leave."_

_ "You don't give a damn about what I want or need. I'm just a convenience for you, you use me! It's all about you! You used a__woman's murder,__Jane, you basically dug__her corpse up for this crap! You're so twisted up in your own dishonesty you have no idea how to act like a decent human being - no idea!"_

_ "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry."_

_ "Alright__, well, if you're really sorry,__why don't you just leave me alone?! Go away." He'd been standing at her door. "I know you're there. I can hear you breathing! Just leave me alone!"_

And that's what he'd done. He'd let her pack her few belongings and take the taxi to the airport. When realization had hit him, it'd been too late. He'd been too late, like so often in his pathetic excuse for a life. For the second time he'd lost the woman he loved.

It was his own fault. He could have prevented her leaving, if only he'd been brave enough to tell her how he felt and not push her right into the arms of another man. After he came back from Venezuela, he'd told himself he would make things work between the two of them. In the past, he'd hurt her so many times he lost count. It'd been time to make it up to her, but he was a person of habit.

Right after he came back, they needed time to settle in. A new city, a new team, a new job. He'd dragged Lisbon here, away from her new home in Cannon River, to be with him. And once he'd had her, everything had slipped back into how things were. It'd made him content, because it was easier to play with an old deck of cards instead of risking playing with a new one. Contentment was good.

The rules had changed though, and you couldn't play a new game with old cards. Lisbon had changed. She'd told him on their first flight together that she wanted him to keep his fingers out of her life, to stop intervening. That's what he'd done - to top it all, he'd pushed her into the arms of another man.

_"I want you to be happy. That is the most important thing, that you do what makes you happy."_

He hoped she was happy now with Marcus Pancake-let's-move-to-DC-after-three-months-of-dating-and-get-you-a-new-job-Pike. Pike wasn't a bad guy; in fact, he was perfect for Lisbon. Stable, independent, no emotional baggage... totally different from him. If things had gone differently and they had never met, this would be the guy he could picture her living with, marrying, having children, everything Lisbon secretly wanted. But things weren't different, and he was a selfish bastard for thinking he could trick Lisbon into staying with him.

Perhaps if he'd just told her how he felt, she'd have stayed. He'd lost the thing that mattered most to him, although he'd tried to stop her plane at the airport. He'd been too late, like so many times in his life.

He'd had his chance... for twelve years, he'd had the chance to tell her how he felt, so he couldn't blame Lisbon for taking _her _chance to finally be happy.  
After Venezuela, he never thought he could miss her more. Her hair, her smile, her laugh... oh god he missed her laugh. It made him miserable, but miserable was good, because it was the only thing he could feel these days instead of emptiness and solitude.

Jane turned on his couch, facing its back. He was able to stare at Lisbon's empty desk for a certain amount of time every day, until it became too much. Abbott hadn't bothered to give it to the new agent, because the first time someone had even touched her old chair, Jane had hypnotized the poor man to bark like a dog every time a phone rang.

Afterwards, they'd left him all alone, just came to him when they had a case or needed something important. He functioned like a machine on autopilot, and for the first time in forever, he was wrong about suspects and killers.

Since Lisbon was gone, he'd lost his way.

Sometimes he could swear he heard her voice nearby, or smelled a special mix of vanilla and cinnamon in the air, her scent.

Although after six months, these things happened less frequently, which made him scared. Jane was scared of forgetting little things, like the particular way her eyebrows furrowed when she was irritated with him, or the dimple in her cheek when she smiled. Yes, he'd stashed everything away in his memory palace, but over time, things started to blur.

For example, he couldn't remember what Charlotte had been wearing on her third birthday, or what exactly Angela had said to him the morning of the day he went to do the interview about Red John. Did Lisbon remember the case when he apologized to her with a simple paper frog? Did she remember how he'd come into her office when she was wearing the pink bridesmaid dress Van Pelt had chosen for her? He'd called her his angry little princess, that's what she'd been. Too bad he couldn't be her prince though, no. He'd screwed it up.  
She must hate him so much after everything he'd done. He wondered if she'd ever forgive him... for the umpteenth time, but even Teresa Lisbon had her limits. That's probably why she hadn't called or texted him once since she'd gone to DC. He couldn't forgive himself, so how could he expect her to forgive him?

He remembered this one night when loneliness had taken over and he'd been drinking too much. Her voice had been inside his head, screaming at him, accusing him of screwing up her life. He'd called her, but it'd gone straight to voicemail. In the morning, he couldn't even remember what he'd said, but who cared? She hated him anyway.

Life wasn't fair, never had been to him, so after everything that happened, why did he expect one thing to last forever? There was no such thing as fate, there was only so much human stupidity and sometimes he wondered why he was so full of it.

The members of the team didn't talk about her in his presence... they barely talked to him these days, since he was an emotional wreck.

Abbott was sorry for him. Hell, the man had given him his car keys so he could drive to the airport. After he'd jumped over the fence and illegally invaded the security area, he'd been taken into custody before he'd been able to reach the departing plane. Jane wondered why Abbott hadn't fired him right after this stunt, but he'd bailed him out and given him a look which said "you screwed up big time, man."

Fischer was kind of mad at him. He guessed it was some kind of woman thing, because after Cho had told her what he'd done, she'd taken Lisbon's side. The two women had become friends during Lisbon's time here in Austin. It was good for Lisbon to have friends, female friends... he knew they were still in contact, but he didn't dare to ask Fischer how Lisbon was, and since Fischer had never said anything, he was sure Lisbon didn't ask about him either.

Cho was the only one who took pity on him. Maybe because he cared, maybe because Lisbon had told him to. He really hoped the latter, although after everything he did, he wondered if she still wasted any of her precious thoughts on him. Speaking of Cho, he could hear the Korean approach his couch in slow steps.

"Jane," Cho said behind him. He didn't bother to fake his sleep, because the agent knew he wasn't sleeping anyway these days. "We're up. Case in Chicago; plane leaves in three hours. Get your stuff and meet us downstairs."

"Okay," he answered. He listened to the vanishing footsteps, counted to ten and swung his legs over the couch. Chicago. What a nice change for a case.

Since it was in the middle of October, it would be quite cold up there, so perhaps he should pack a coat, he thought. Lisbon would know what to pack, because she grew up in Chicago. She loved the summer and the beach, but he knew she enjoyed cuddling on a couch in front of a fireplace on a cold winter's day, too.

Did Pike know she liked this kind of thing? It was hard to tell. Jane sighed. Hopefully he found the time to feed Lisbon properly, because she tended to forget to eat when things were stressful. Did she have someone who brought her coffee in the morning? He hoped she wouldn't live on cereal bars and sandwiches from vending machines.

He'd always taken care of her, brought her food, coffee, made her smile… but also got her into loads and loads of trouble, and because of him she had tons of extra paper work to do – at least at the CBI.

Well, there was no Jane-related paperwork in her new job now.

"Jane, are you coming?" Fischer called from the elevators. She was holding the door open for him, so he quickened his pace and stepped inside.

"Kim."

"We got a case," she said, her voice clearly annoyed.

"I know, Cho told me." They rode the elevator down in silence. He figured Fischer was still mad at him, on the one hand because of Lisbon and on the other because last week he'd nearly gotten shot while pissing off a murder suspect from the Mexican mafia. If she hadn't pushed him aside and taken the bullet in her vest for him, he could have died.

That was another thing he didn't care about since Lisbon left. He wouldn't just go and kill himself, but he wasn't exactly careful when it came to danger now. Not that he ever had been, but he could count on Lisbon to save him. These days… there was no one. He was falling into a black hole and couldn't get out.

"Have you heard from Lisbon lately?" he suddenly asked as they rode the elevator down in silence. It was the first time he'd even said her name aloud since she left.

Fischer was surprised, she couldn't hide it. "Yeah, I talked to her on the phone a few days ago."

"Ah," he answered, not knowing if he should ask for more information. It would only hurt him to know more about her, and he wouldn't dare to ask Kim the things he desperately wanted to know.

"She is doing fine. Her new job is interesting but a little exhausting; the team she is working with is nice." Fischer smiled a little at him, not sure how he would absorb this type of information about such a delicate topic.

"That's… nice," Jane pressed out with a throaty voice, not looking at her. "Is she… happy?"

He didn't know why Kim suddenly took pity on him, but her next words almost made him unable to breathe.

"She didn't give me any reason not to be. I'm glad you're asking, Jane. She's been asking about you, too."

"She has?" Maybe there was still hope she didn't profoundly hate him as much as he thought she would. He waited for Fischer to say more, but she just smiled.

For the first time in six months, Jane felt something stir deep down in his body. Lisbon had asked about him… She was interested in how he was doing. Maybe she did care at least. What the hell did he think? She was saint Teresa, of course she cared, although she loathed him. But what if she just asked how he was because Kim had told her about the stunt he pulled?

There were too many possibilities and suddenly he hated himself for asking Kim, because now he couldn't stop thinking about her. Jane hated it. He hated that he loved her so much.

Xxxxx

Their plane landed in rainy and cool Chicago in the evening. It was already dark when they arrived at the crime scene, a bad neighborhood in South Side. A man had been executed with seven shots in the heart and three in his head. Well, there probably was no head anymore.

A man in a suit greeted them and introduced himself as FBI Agent Andy Dearman. He didn't seem happy another team was taking over his case, Jane realized immediately.

"The victim's name is Luther Gregory McKinnley, age 46. He must have been killed last night with several shots. Nobody's seen anything, but that's normal in this neighborhood."

"Who called it in then?" Cho asked.

"He's got an electronic tag and when he didn't call in this morning, people from Chicago PD found him. Look guys, I know you went through a lot of trouble to get up here, but my team can handle it."

"Obviously it can't, Agent Dearman, because this is the third time within a week that someone's been executed in the same style," Fischer explained dryly, before she looked around to see a head with blond hair vanishing inside the building. "Let's go inside. Abbott said we have to keep an eye on Jane so he doesn't do anything stupid."

McKinnley showed them inside and led them up the stairs to the second floor where the crime scene was located.

There was mostly dried blood and gray mass – brain – on the floor and walls, and the smell of decay and garbage inside the little two-room-apartment made everyone who came in there for the first time swallow hard. The crime scene techs were still working on securing the evidence and taking pictures, while the coroner was preparing the body for a move.

Jane was standing in the doorway, taking everything in. The smell was horrible, but he didn't care. Behind him, he could hear the other agents approach, so he stepped aside to let them inside.

A smile spread over his face when he saw Fischer wrinkling her nose. "Oh god, why do these people never clean their apartments? That's disgusting! Look at all the trash!"

"What else do we know about the victim? Is there any connection to the other two victims?" Cho asked Dearman.

He shook his head. "Not that we know of, although it's definitely the same killer."

"Who are the other victims?" Jane wanted to know. He hadn't bothered to read the files on their way here.

"Zelda Higgins, age 68, retired primary school teacher and Antonio Valentini, age 47, owns a pizza place in Cicero. We found out that Higgins was the teacher of Valentini's son."

"Then why do you say there is no connection? She must have known the fathers of her pupils," Jane said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, but that was 28 years ago."

"So what? The connection is there, even if it was so long ago. If you call this good police work, I know why you haven't found a killer yet. Sloppy."

"Jane," Fischer murmured to calm him down.

"What? It's true, isn't it? You should have followed the lead."

Dearman balled his fists. "I've heard about you, Jane. I won't let me and my team be dragged through the mud just because you feel like messing with the FBI. They've been shoving rainbows up your ass for too long."

"I think it's a good thing our team is going to take over the case. Agent Dearman, we will meet up with your team tomorrow at Chicago PD, where you can show us what you've worked on up to now. Afterwards, we take over and you can go home." Fischer used her authoritarian voice and pointed toward the door, but Dearman obviously didn't like taking orders from women.

He wanted to reply, but Cho stepped in to support Kim's order by leading the man carefully away from the crime scene.

"His wife just left him for the gardener, don't be too hard on him," Jane remarked, before he turned back toward the crime scene, where the people were more or less packing up.

"I can fight my own battles, thanks, Jane. If I were him I'd react the same way. Nobody likes to admit they failed at something. For some reason he doesn't like you, so perhaps it would be better, if you could do something tomorrow morning besides being at the office."

"Oh Kim, I didn't know you cared, thank you. Well, how about Cho and I go and interview McKinnley's daughter? She doesn't know about her father's death, does she?" Jane went over to the blood sprinkled desk and held up a card from a wedding gown shop called "Love Is Sweet – Bridal Gowns and More." "There's also a letter addressed to Lucy."

"How do you know it's the daughter? I don't think the files said anything about a daughter. She could be his lover." Kim wasn't sure about Jane's conclusion on things.

He pointed to the only picture on the wall, which showed a little girl around age six in a princess gown sitting on a bench in the park from afar. "He didn't have time for a lover. He was living in a bad neighborhood and had an electronic tag, ergo it must be the daughter. If you check his records, I'm sure there will be a temporary restraining order for a woman who had a child called Lucy a few months later. If you take a look at the letter, it doesn't sound like it's the first time he wrote her. Maybe she knows something."

Fischer seemed impressed because he'd shared his thoughts with her, so she just nodded and told him she'd check.

Xxxxx

Early the next morning, Cho and Jane were on their way to a shop for bridal dresses on the West Side. It was a small shop with a charming interior. Someone had really put a lot of thought into everything, at least from what they could see from the store window.

"I hope she is working," Cho mumbled, but Jane just shrugged. They'd found out that Lucy Hall had taken over the business from the previous owner, who retired a few months ago.

"She just took over the business; I don't think she has enough money for new employees just yet. We will see."

They stepped inside, hearing the ringing of a wind chime above their heads.

"Just a sec!" someone called from the only dressing room with a heavy pink curtain to shield the view of what was going on inside. On the opposite side was a huge antique mirror with a golden frame so the bride could see herself in the gown full size.

"Okay, we're ready." A small blond haired woman with a very lovely face peeked out of the room to greet her guests. "Good morning, gentlemen, what can I do for you?"

"I'm Agent Cho, this is Patrick Jane, FBI. Miss Hall, we have to talk to you about your father."

She rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. "Alright, what did the old bastard do now? Is it because of those letters? I threw them all into the trash without opening them."

"Your father is dead, Miss Hall. He was murdered the day before yesterday," the Korean explained.

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that. But I really don't know what to tell you. He was a sonofabitch, you know?" Jane tried to read any indication she was being fake, but he could tell she wasn't lying.

"Have you been in contact with Luther McKinnley recently?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't. Like I said, a few months ago I started to receive these letters from him where he wanted to apologize and _explain_ things, but I never answered him. After I read the first one, I threw all the other ones away without opening them. Listen, I have a customer. Could we shift this to my lunch break?"

"It's okay, Miss Hall," the voice behind the curtain said, and Jane's blood froze.

He turned around to the dressing room. The curtain had been drawn back, and a petite dark-haired woman in a white mermaid wedding gown with silk and lace stepped out. Her face was flushed and her hands were shaking slightly. "Hello, Jane…."

"Lisbon…."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey there! Thanks everyone for your reviews and all the follows and favs! You're so nice and that's why the next chapter is up now!

I'm having a little trouble at uni, so I hope you don't mind when the chapters take longer than usual. I try to write at least one to two pages per day.

A huge thank you to Idan, the best beta in the world and to totorsg for the lovely cover for this story!

If you want to know about updates or just do some crazy Mentalista talk, you can also follow me on twitter. My name's "glindaloveshoes"

Oki doki, I hope you enjoy!

Liefs

* * *

(2) This beautiful creation

It wasn't the perfect day to go bridal dress shopping. The sky was light gray, full of clouds and humidity. It would rain again today, just like it had the other days since she'd gotten here.

Hopefully the weather would be a little nicer on her actual wedding… It would have been nicer in spring or summer, but Marcus had said he wanted to get married as soon as possible once she'd settled in back in D.C. No pressure of course. He never consciously wanted to pressure her, but he kind of did.

He'd been very sweet when he'd picked her up in the middle of the night on her flight from Miami to D.C, not asking questions, just holding her when she'd suddenly started crying back at home. She'd said she was just a little sad things had changed so fast, because she couldn't tell him the truth.

"_If you want to talk about it, I__'__m here, Teresa, you know?__"_

"_I do. Thanks.__"_

She'd guessed he'd figured out something must have happened, but he didn't want to pressure her into talking, so they never had.

Then one night, two weeks after the disaster with Jane, he'd taken her out to this fancy Italian place where he wanted to celebrate their engagement properly. It was the night he'd finally given her a big diamond ring, which must have cost him three months' salary.

_Marcus knelt down, a small smile on his face. She knew what was coming, was prepared to say the right word to him when he asked her. _

"_Teresa Lisbon, you have made me the happiest man I can imagine. Will you marry me?__" _

_Jane would have called her Teresa Marie Lisbon. She wasn__'__t even sure if Marcus knew her middle name and it bugged her. In the end, what did she know about him? Jane was right, they had known each other for only a few months and marriage was for life __– __at least it was for her. _

_But what did Jane know, the selfish bastard?_

"_Honey?__" __Marcus asked, his brows a little furrowed._

"_Yes. Sure.__" __He took her hand and put the ring on. It was a nice one, but a little too loose around her finger. Jane would have known her size. _

Stop it, he's had his chance! Get it over with, _she told herself and smiled at Marcus, who got up to give her a sweet kiss on the mouth. The other people in the restaurant applauded and the waiter came with the champagne. _

She was supposed to be happy with a new life, a new job, a new city and a fiancé. So what was this ache deep down in her heart whenever she thought of the upcoming wedding?

He'd agreed on marrying her in Chicago in a heartbeat. Actually, it had been his idea.

"_Do you have any preferences? Anything special?__"_

"_I want my family to be there,__" __she mumbled. Her brothers and maybe, if they had enough money, they could bring their families. It would be hard though for James to pay a flight for two adults and three children plus the hotel, plus__…_

"_We could get married in Chicago, if you want to. I don__'__t have a lot of family and my sister could come up there. What do you think?__"_

"_Sure.__"_

He wanted her to be happy, made plans with her, told her he had been saving the money over the years to show off a little if she wanted to. She'd agreed although she didn't want to, because she wanted Marcus to be happy.

"_You know, my sister has been asking me for months if she could help us with the wedding. Would you mind giving her some stuff to do? I know you__'__re busy with work, so you probably don__'__t have the time to pick out the paper for the invitations or the decoration for the tables.__" _

"_Sure.__"_

He'd risked so much with her, had given her his heart completely and now he was happy they would be getting married.

"_I can__'__t wait for you to be Mrs. Pike. You__'__ll change your name, right? I mean you don__'__t have to, if you don__'__t want to.__"_

"_Sure.__"_

When Marcus' sister Gina had sent them the first design for their wedding invitations, she'd bitten her lip and stared at it for over five minutes: The light pink paper with glitter, a pink bow, two white doves with a pair of golden rings and golden text.

_We Do! Teresa Lisbon & Marcus Pike request the pleasure of your company as they celebrate their marriage Saturday, the 27__th__ of October, 2014 at 11 am__…_

"_You don__'__t think Gina overdid herself, do you?__" __Marcus asked._

"_No, it__'__s fine__… __I__'__d probably have sent an email or text.__" _

_He laughed. __"__She asked me to tell you to make a list of the people you want to invite, so she can send out the invitations.__"_

"_Sure.__"_

She'd tried to not think of Jane too often, but sometimes it was hard to just forget a person you've spent almost twelve years with. For some people it was easy to erase all the memories, pretend like nothing happened, but Teresa Lisbon had always been haunted by her past.

The chapter named Patrick Jane was no exception. She'd loved him, loved him with such a deep and caring love, she'd never felt anything like that for anyone. But he'd broken her heart multiple times, and there was only so much she could take.

If Miami had happened back then at the CBI, she'd have laughed it off, punched him in the nose maybe, but this time it was too intense. Too much had been at stake and she couldn't believe that one night he showed up on her doorstep with cannoli, telling her that her happiness was the most important thing to him, and the other night he'd tricked her into one of his schemes so she would stay with him.

She wondered how far he would have gone if things had worked out. Also, she wondered how far _she_ would have let him go. Patrick Jane hung like a ghost over her life. He managed to get inside her head when she was working a case on her new job, he sneaked into her behavior….

She missed him and she hated it. So it was better to push all the memories and thoughts of him away once they appeared.

Since she was still in contact with Kim and Cho from time to time, she had a hard time not asking about him. Actually, when Marcus had asked her to make the list, she'd sat at the desk in her home office, a mostly empty piece of paper in front of her. It was the first time since she left that she'd asked how he was, when she was on the phone with Kim.

"_He__'__s doing okay,__"_ Kim had said, and she could picture him lying on the couch, brooding like in the old days. But back to the list.

Tommy + Annie, James + family, Peter + family, the Rigsbys, Cho, Minelli + Mae, Kim.

There was no Jane on her list. If things were different, Marcus wouldn't even be her groom, but he was. He didn't deserve to come after everything that happened, especially not after _the call_.

Yes, she'd received some calls from him after she moved, but she couldn't bring up the courage to answer him, so they went straight to voicemail. She'd listened to them, but after that specific one, she'd deleted them all.

When she'd given the list to Marcus, he'd thrown a quick glance at it, seeming somewhat pleased. It was probably because Jane was not on it, but she couldn't be sure.

The wedding date came closer and closer. They booked the flights, talked about the ceremony, picked put the rings. Life was rushing by so quick, she felt like she was in a bubble she couldn't escape from. Also, the air inside the bubble was becoming dangerously thin. She needed to breathe.

"_Gina asked if you__'__ve already picked out a wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses. She asks if you need any help.__"_

"_Sure,__" __she answered. _

_Marcus looked at her, his brows furrowed. __"__If this wedding puts too much pressure on you, I__'__ll buy the next available tickets to Vegas. Just say the word, okay?__" __He took her hand and kissed the finger with the too loose engagement ring. _

"_Yeah. Uhm, Marcus?__"_

"_Yes, darling?__"_

"_Tell Gina she can pick out the bridesmaid dresses. I would like to take care of the wedding dress myself.__" _

"_Of course, Teresa. You__'__ll be a beautiful bride.__"_

It was the first time she'd made a decision about her own wedding, besides saying "yes," and it was probably the last one she would make. That conversation had happened three months ago and now, three days before her wedding, she still didn't have a dress. She'd dreaded buying one until the last moment.

Lisbon took a deep breath, sticking her cold hands inside her coat pockets, not sure if it was the weather that made her so melancholy or the thought of the upcoming wedding. Wasn't the bride supposed to be filled with glee on the day she was going to buy her wedding gown?

But well, she wasn't a normal bride. _"__Love is Sweet__" – __Bridal Gowns And More_ was a tiny shop she knew, because her mother had bought her dress there back when she'd married her dad. It was too bad that the old woman who'd owned the shop and sold one of her wedding dresses to her mother had retired only a few months ago.

Still, when she entered the store, it still smelled like cotton candy and vanilla. The interior was a little different, but the new owner had kept some things, like the huge antique mirror with the golden frame and the ballerina music box on one of the stools. It played Swansea.

A young blonde woman looked up from her desk and gave her a friendly smile. "You must be Teresa Lisbon, right? Hi, I'm Lucy! Let's see what we can do for you. Coffee?"

"I'd love some," Lisbon answered.

"Great, make yourself comfortable and have a look around, I'll be right back."

Lisbon did as asked. She opened the buttons of her coat and hung it over a chair, not sure why she was so nervous. Since she'd started dating Marcus, she'd bought dresses all the time. A wedding dress was just a stupid dress, too, wasn't it?

She put her phone on silent, not wanting to be disturbed by anyone, especially not Gina, who'd finally managed to get a hold of her phone number. Gina wasn't a bad person, it was just… this wedding made her kind of over enthusiastic.

Usually, she'd have taken Annie with her, since she was staying at their apartment for the time being, but she was in school this morning. Also, she'd become kind of a pick pocketing know-it-all. Damn Jane for that.

"_Is Jane coming to the wedding?__"_

"_No, he__'__s not.__"_

"_Why?__"_

"_Because I didn__'__t invite him, that__'__s why.__" _

_The young girl raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her chest. __"__Why did you not invite him?__"_

"_I don__'__t think that__'__s any of your business, young lady.__"_

"_That__'__s too bad, I always thought you were friends.__"_

"_We were,__" __Lisbon mumbled._

"_You never talk about him anymore. What happened to the two of you? I mean, I haven__'__t met Marcus and he seems like a nice guy, but come on. You know, Aunt Reese, I never took you for the kind of woman who would marry a guy she just met. What do you aim to achieve with this whole wedding spectacle anyway? You haven__'__t decided one thing on your own, have you? That__'__s all been this Gina__'__s doing.__"_

_Annie was right, but she wouldn__'__t give her the satisfaction of telling her. __"__You__'__re just mad, because she bought that pink bridesmaid dress for you.__"_

_It made them both crack a smile. __"__I look like Miss Piggy! And I won__'__t wear those stupid heels, I__'__ll wear my boots, just so you know.__"_

"_I don__'__t care what you wear, as long as you__'__ll be there, Annie,__" __Lisbon smiled affectionately. _

"_Dad and I just want you to be happy, Reese.__" __She hugged her aunt and sighed loudly. _

"_I know,__" __Lisbon whispered, caressing her hair, __"__I know.__" _

Everybody wanted her to be happy, so why couldn't she be?

"Here's your coffee," Lucy announced and handed her the mug. "Have you found a dress you would like to try on already?"

"Uh… honestly I have no idea… there are so many," Lisbon explained sheepishly.

"I know what you're talking about, but don't worry, we'll find the right dress for you. When's your wedding going to be?"

"On Saturday." Lucy raised an eyebrow. Usually women came here months early to find the right dress for their special day, but well, there were always some exceptions.

"I was kind of busy," Lisbon defended herself. "You know, I live in D.C. and my family is up here. I arrived yesterday morning and there's just so much to do…"

"No problem, Teresa. May I call you Teresa?"

Lisbon nodded and took a big sip of the coffee. It was strong, which was good. She went over to the wall with the dresses then, all white, all next to each other. There were different forms and sizes, some with lace, and velvet, some with silk and tulle. Some were long, some short, some tight, some loose. She didn't want a short one, because it would be cold on her wedding day and she didn't want to freeze.

If they were unlucky, it could even snow for the first time this winter.

"I don't want a short one," she finally said, "and nothing that looks like I fell out of one of these kitschy wedding shows."

Lucy laughed, shaking her head a little. "We will find the right dress for you, I promise. How about I show you a few different cuts and you'll say whether you like it or not. Then we'll have a small selection you could try on."

"That sounds good." Lisbon smiled, walked over the chair and sat down, while Lucy picked out a few dresses. In the end, they narrowed it down to three dresses. One was in a floating cream colored white with one wide strap over the left shoulder and little silver stones in an ornament in the middle of the waist. The second was a bright white slim fitting strapless dress in a mermaid shaped design with a dipped neckline, lace around the torso and hips and a court hem made of shining silk, while the third pearl white dress had an empire waist with a v-neckline, an open back and little white shimmering ornaments on the hem.

"Very wise choice, Teresa. How about we put one on, so you get a feeling for which shape you like more?"

They walked into the only dressing room and pulled the curtain closed. Lisbon undressed herself except for the underwear and put the first one of the dresses on. She remembered the wedding picture of her mom and dad which used to stand over the fireplace in the living room. Her mother's dress had been beautiful, she'd even let her wear it this one time back on her seventh birthday.

Her mother had promised her she could have it when she got married if the next child was a boy. Otherwise, she'd have to argue with her sister. Well, she'd been happy Peter had turned out to be a boy back then. If she'd only known her father would throw everything away that reminded him of his late wife a few months after her death.

The only thing which had survived had been the picture above the fireplace until one night he'd been drunk, taken it and thrown it right into the fire. Except for her cross, there was nothing left that reminded her of her mother. Oh how she wished she could be here now.

She'd have the right advice, she always had.

"If you want to take a look at yourself, the mirror is outside," Lucy smiled. Lisbon nodded numbly, stepping outside the dressing room. The dress looked nice, but somehow she didn't feel it was the right one.

"It's beautiful, you look perfect!" Lucy exclaimed, "What do you say?"

"I… uh… it's nice." She caressed the fabric with her hand and put on a small smile. A bride was supposed to smile, wasn't she?

"Oh you don't have to decide right now, there are more dresses waiting for you. I know it's weird to see yourself in a wedding dress for the first time; it takes some time to get used to. Let's take a look at the other ones. You know, even if you can't find anything here, the wedding is not until Saturday, right? So you have three days left.

"I like the shape of the dress, but perhaps it would suit you if you wore something more form fitting. You have nothing to hide!"

They went back to the dressing room, where Lucy helped her undress. She was just about to close the zipper of the second dress, when they heard the melodic sound of the wind chimes over the door. Another customer.

"Just a sec!" Lucy called, closing the zipper and the little button of the wedding dress and smiled at Lisbon. "It's probably just another customer. I'll get right back to you. We're ready!" she exclaimed a little louder and slipped out of the dressing room. "Good morning, gentlemen, what can I do for you?"

Lisbon sighed, about to pull the curtain away, when she heard one of the men speak. "I'm Agent Cho, this is Patrick Jane, FBI. Miss Hall, we have to talk to you about your father."

She froze in her tracks, her heart squeezing violently, before it started beating like crazy. This was some kind of joke, right? The man had not announced himself as Agent Cho and his colleague Patrick Jane, had he? What were the odds of something like this happening to her at this time and this place? Probably a gazillion to one, but it had happened.

Lisbon tried to control her breathing and was suddenly very thankful for the small stool inside the dressing room. She had to sit down. Oh. My. God. Patrick Jane was here.

When she'd thought about seeing Jane again, it'd always been some weird coincidence in her imagination. Well, this _was_ a weird coincidence, that much was true. But why? Why her, why now? She was about to buy her wedding dress for god's sake!

Memories from their last evening in Islamorada flashed inside her head. The case, the code, the hotel, the dresses, the moment she'd found out… the last time she'd seen him, she'd told him to leave, told him he was a selfish bastard who had no idea how to act like a decent human being.

While trying to control her breathing, she listened to what Cho and Jane had to say.

She didn't want to face him, not on such short notice three days before her wedding. What should she say to him?

"_Hey Jane, nice to see you, I__'__m buying the wedding dress for my wedding in three days, to which I didn__'__t invite you by the way__…"_ God no, she couldn't do this! On the other hand, why did she care?

Whenever she'd been on the phone with Cho or Kim, she wondered if he'd asked about her. He hadn't.

Hopefully they would leave in a few minutes – she couldn't stay in here forever, since she had no chance to get out of this dress by herself. Stupid dress! She should get one with a side zipper, one she could get out of herself.

They were here because of a case, she could hear. It was good. This meant Jane didn't know anything about her upcoming wedding – or maybe someone had told him? Was he here to sabotage her wedding? No. He wouldn't do that, would he? He'd had his chance with her and hadn't taken it. It was over. Over!

Anger rose up inside her. He had no right to be here! She was done with him, she was… Once again her heart clenched, this time not because of Jane, but because she heard the very familiar name of Luther McKinnley. She knew this man... and he was Lucy's father? What irony.

She had two options now. Either she could hide out like a chicken and hope they would leave – which probably wouldn't happen any time soon, or she could bravely face her past. Lucy was just about to try to get them to leave when she took the little bit of courage which was left.

"It's okay, Miss Hall," she addressed her formally, pulled the curtain aside and stepped out of the dressing room.

In all her life, there had only been a few times when Patrick Jane had looked surprised. People were seldom able to throw him off his game, especially not her. He'd once told her she was like an open book to him, but this time, she'd done it.

"Hello Jane."

"Lisbon…" he whispered, staring at her like she was a mirage. His eyes wandered over her body, taking in the sight of her in the dress with such admiration it would have warmed her heart if things were different between them.

"Cho. Nice to see you." Even Cho looked a little surprised, although he was better at hiding it than Jane, who couldn't tear his gaze off her.

"Likewise. Nice dress." Lisbon cracked a smile at her former colleague and friend, before she stepped in front of the mirror, casually turning from side to side.

"It's not that bad, is it? I heard you were talking about a case with Miss Hall?"

"It's about my biological father, the old bastard was murdered," Lucy explained, annoyed. "I'm sorry for this. I didn't know you know each other."

"They're old… colleagues," she answered. For a moment the word friends had been on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't know what her relationship to Jane was nowadays, so she went with the safe alternative.

"Yeah, ugly serial murders in the last weeks. We were sent to take over the case from the FBI guys here. Sorry, but we can't tell you more. We'll get back to you, Miss Hall. It was nice seeing you, Lisbon. Jane, are you coming?"

Lisbon looked over to Jane, whose eyes were still locked on her. He hadn't said anything, hadn't made any attempt to touch her, just watched her, his eyes thick with emotion.

"You said the victim was Luther McKinnley."

"Sorry, Lisbon, but you're not part of the team anymore," Cho said in a professional tone. It still stung.

"I… I knew him."

Now three pairs of eyes were locked on her and she knew she had woken Cho's interest.

"How?"

"He… he killed my mom."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks so much for the huge response you guys are amazing! I have good news too, I was accepted at the university I wanted to go and that's why you get the chapter now lol!

I hope you enjoy and like the little drama in here ;)

Thanks to Idan as always for betaing! She's sooooo wonderful and I LOVE her new story The Pretender omg! Go and write a review to her lastest chapter NOW ;)

Liefs

* * *

(3) Look at what I'm given

"_I__… __I knew him.__"_

_Now three pairs of eyes were locked on her and she knew she had woken Cho__'__s interest._

"_How?__" _

"_He__… __he killed my mom.__"_

Cho stared at her in shock, while Lucy let out a cry and put her hands over her mouth. The only one who still hadn't said anything was Jane.

"I mean… if it's him. He was 18 back then…" she swallowed hard. She'd thought of Luther McKinnley often in the years after her mother died, wondered why he had to drive that stupid car in a drunken state and hadn't even stopped once he'd hit her on her bike.

Paramedics had told her dad she could have survived if someone had called the ambulance sooner. Things could be different now, but they weren't.

"I am so sorry," Lucy mumbled, expressing her condolences. "I always knew he was a bastard but I never knew he'd killed someone."

"It was an accident. He drove drunk… It happened 28 years ago. Thank you though."

"I'm sorry I have to ask you this, Lisbon, but where were you on Monday evening?" Cho asked professionally. He knew that now the connection was made, he had to treat her like a suspect.

"I was back in D.C. My plane arrived in Chicago yesterday morning." It was just common procedure, she knew. Cho had to ask these questions, though it still felt weird to justify herself in front of her former colleague.

"Miss Hall, I'm sure Agent Lisbon won't mind waiting a little until we finish the conversation. Is there any place private where we can talk? It won't take longer than a few minutes. Jane, you stay here."

Lucy looked from Cho to Lisbon, who nodded at her. She led the Asian agent into a room in the back and closed the door.

Lisbon was sure he'd done it on purpose, leaving Jane here with her, but, well, she couldn't run from him her whole life. She looked up, meeting his eyes. The silence was bone-crushing.

"You look beautiful," he finally managed to say with a sad smile.

She looked down to smooth the fabric of her dress. "Thanks, the dress is nice. I don't know if I'll take it though."

"I don't mean the dress, Teresa." Lisbon bit her lip and turned around to walk over to the long mirror. She could feel Jane's eyes burning a hole in her back. For some reason, she started to hate the dress, when she looked in the mirror again. Or maybe it was just because Jane was suddenly standing next to her in his dark blue suit without a vest, hair slightly tousled from the rough Chicago weather. He was looking directly at her through the mirror.

There had been times when Lisbon had allowed herself to daydream. There had always been this thought about how she would look in a wedding dress, her groom right next to her. In fact, if someone took a picture of their reflection in the mirror, they would look like the perfect couple. The problem was just, they weren't. She was with another man, she would marry another man, because he'd shattered her heart so much that she was still not done putting the pieces back together.

"Lisbon, I'm…"

"Don't, Jane," she cut in, raising a hand, "I don't want to hear it."

"I'm still sorry for what happened. You have no idea how sorry I am."

"It's too late, Jane," Lisbon whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

"I know," he answered, his voice full of hurt and regret. "I want to make it up to you, Teresa. I miss you. Please. I will do anything."

She just shook her head, closing her eyes. Just then, Lucy and Cho emerged from the back and Jane stepped away from her.

"We're done, Jane. Let's go," Cho announced. Jane threw Lisbon one last longing glance, before he walked over to Lucy and took her hand. He leaned down to her, whispering something inside her ear, too low for anyone to hear it.

"Thank you, Mr. Jane," Lucy smiled.

"Bye, Lisbon, see you Saturday." Cho nodded goodbye to her and left the store, Jane right behind him. The two women waited a little and watched them vanish down the street before Lucy brought up the courage to clear her throat.

"What a coincidence to meet your colleagues right here… I'm very sorry for the interruption. How do you like the dress?"

"I hate it," Lisbon answered, walking over to the dressing room, "I'm not sure if I'll find a dress here today. I'm sorry. Could you help me get out of this?"

"Oh that's too bad. But you shouldn't give up so fast, Teresa. Maybe we could agree on one other dress? Just to see if you like it or not? I have this one here…" She walked over to the dresses and counted to the third on the right hand side, then pulled it out.

Lisbon looked up, an annoyed expression on her face, which changed the moment she saw the dress. It had a long, not too extreme ball gown cut with a basque waistline, a dipped neckline and put on lace sleeves in an interesting flower pattern. The dress itself had no ornaments, just a simple white bow around the waist to separate the bodice from the skirt. It was beautiful.

"It… it looks a little like my mom's," she mumbled, walking closer to touch the dress. "Hers didn't have lace sleeves, they were shiny silk… but the bow and the rest… it's beautiful."

"So would you like to try it on?" Lucy asked with a smile. Lisbon nodded simply and walked back to the dressing room to get out of the dress she was just wearing.

Lucy helped her to undress and put on the wedding gown she'd just shown her.

"It's perfect!" Lisbon exclaimed, while the other woman fastened the zipper and buttons.

"Yes, I kind of forgot about it. Thankfully Mr. Jane was so nice to tell me you'd like that one. We're almost done, then you can go and look at it in the big mirror."

"Stop," Lisbon said, raising a hand. "What did you just say?"

"I'm almost finished…"

"No, the thing with Jane!" She turned around to Lucy, her expression darkening. Lucy awkwardly took a step back.

"He… before he left he said I should show you this dress because he was sure you would love it… I… did I do something wrong?"

Lisbon looked at her stunned. How dare he? How dare he think he got a say in which dress she was going to wear to her wedding! "That son of a bitch!" Of course _he_ would be the one to find _the _dress for her! But no, she wasn't going to walk down the aisle with a dress Jane picked out. She didn't care that it looked like her mother's, she didn't care it could be _the _dress. For the umpteenth time, Jane had ruined it.

Was this some sort of revenge for not inviting him to the wedding? He wasn't even invited and would probably still ruin it, but not with her, no. She'd tell him once and for all that she wasn't going to put up with his crap a second longer.

"I don't want this dress," Lisbon stared angrily.

"But you haven't even seen it in the mirror."

"I don't care. Would you please help me out of it?" Lucy did as asked, a puzzled expression on her face. She wasn't used to dealing with angry brides. Of course there were the picky ones from time to time, but Teresa here was mad for some reason. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything about Mr. Jane's choice of the dress. There had been some tension between the two of them, but what did she know? She was just trying to make her customers happy.

"I'll just take this one," Lisbon decided after she changed back to her old clothes again. It was the third one they'd picked out in the first place.

"But you haven't even tried it on."

"I don't care, I just want to be done with this crap." She threw her jacket on and waited for Lucy to put the dress in one of the huge boxes so she could carry it home. The thing was just, the other woman wasn't moving.

"I am sorry, Teresa, but I won't sell this dress to you."

"Then give me another one! I don't care."

Lucy shook her head. "No, I won't. You know, a wedding dress is not something you just buy. It's supposed to be a part of you and get you though one of the happiest days in your life. I don't know what is wrong, but I'm sorry, I cannot sell you a dress under these circumstances. Maybe you should decide what you want first, then come back and look for a dress."

"I just want this stupid wedding to be over with," she mumbled furiously. "Keep the dresses, it's okay. I'll marry Marcus in a work suit. Still, thanks for your help."

Lisbon walked out of the store, the wind chimes jingling when the door opened and fell closed again. What a mess.

Xxxxx

Jane and Cho were just around the corner when Jane couldn't hold it in any longer. "Did you know Lisbon is getting married on _Saturday_?"

"Yeah," Cho answered coolly.

"Well I think my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail then," Jane assumed. It had to be the mail. She would invite him, right? On the other hand… Cho was the one to answer his silent question.

"Why should she invite you?"

"Because we are… were partners. We've known each other for more than twelve years! Does that not mean anything?"

Cho silently raised an eyebrow telling him exactly what he didn't want to hear. Of course she wouldn't invite him to her wedding. Hell, if he were in her shoes, he wouldn't have even talked to him back there in the bridal shop. After six months of no contact, they saw each other while she was trying to buy her wedding dress. He didn't believe in coincidences, so their meeting had to have a reason. But why?

"You know why she didn't invite you," Cho said while getting into the car.

"Oh, I do? Why, is she afraid I'm going to persuade her she could do better than Marcus?"

"I hope you don't mean yourself. You have to accept it, Jane. She's gone. You screwed it up."

It was the truth, but sometimes the truth hurt. Well, in this case it was the familiar rush of pain through his bones whenever he thought about his lost chance with Lisbon. Cho was right. Marcus was good for her. She'd looked amazing in the dress she'd been wearing, but it stung. It stung that she was going to marry another man in _three_ days and he hadn't known.

It was just like her leaving all over again. In three days, she'd be committed to Mr. Marcus-you-stole-my-best-friend-Pike. Oh God. Maybe she would change her name to Mrs. Pike. Lisbon was traditional, she would change her name… she took marriage very seriously and once they were married, everything would be over.

Jane felt sick to his stomach. He should be happy for her. A good guy, marriage, kids – that's everything he'd ever wanted for her… He wasn't happy though, no.

"Don't do it, Jane," Cho warned him.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, right. This time, she's going to shoot you."

Jane just shrugged. He didn't care about death as long as he knew that he'd tried. Maybe this was his last chance to tell her how he felt about her. It wasn't fair, but he'd never been one to play fair.

Xxxxx

Chicago PD had given their team a small conference room with two computers so they could start their work on the murder cases. There were a few boxes on the table which contained information about the two other murders and a board with pictures and time notes of the victims and possible suspects.

Fischer was just off the phone with Abbott when she walked back into the conference room, where Jane and Cho were waiting to tell her about the interview with Lucy Hall.

"Dearman is not happy that we took his case. What did you get out of Lucy Hall?"

"She hasn't been in contact with her father. She said she threw the letters away without opening them. I don't think it was her," Cho answered.

Fischer nodded and sat down on one of the uncomfortable chairs. "Any ideas, Jane?"

Jane looked up, his facial expression hard. "Oh, now we're sharing stuff?"

"Excuse me?" the female agent asked, throwing Cho a glance. The Korean just rolled his eyes, before he simply stated, "We saw Lisbon."

"You knew she was getting married and didn't think it was something I might have wanted to know?!" Jane accused her immediately.

"Well Cho didn't tell you anything! He got an invitation, too!" she answered, wincing when Cho threw her a death glare. "Also I thought you got an invitation but you didn't want to go, so…"

Jane rose from his seat and left the room like a pissed teenager. After the door closed behind him, Fischer let out a sigh. "What the hell was that? When did you see Lisbon? I thought the wedding was on Saturday."

"She was at Hall's store picking out a wedding dress. She was in the dressing room when we went inside."

"Crap. He saw her wearing the dress?" Cho just nodded, looking to the door. He wasn't sure if Jane was listening to their conversation from outside, but whatever.

"I told Abbott it was a bad idea to come here. He's been acting like a crazy man for six months now; Lisbon's wedding will make it even worse. What should we do?" She really seemed desperate for an answer, but Cho didn't have one. He still couldn't get over the fact that there might have been more than friendly feelings between his former boss and the consultant. When Abbott had laid everything out to him in Islamorada, he'd had a hard time accepting it.

"We should stay out of it."

"You think so?" she asked uncertainly. "We have to find this stupid serial killer and send Jane back to Austin as soon as possible. And from now on, there will always be someone with him wherever he goes, so he doesn't do anything stupid, okay?"

"Are you volunteering?" Cho asked.

"This is not a joke, Kimball. If we're not careful, things could end badly – for Jane _and_ Lisbon." She gave him a hard look as there was a knock on the door.

"Yes!"

It opened carefully and a small brunette woman in a black puffy winter jacket walked inside.

"Lisbon," Fischer gasped. Lisbon gave the two other agents a smile, before she closed the door behind her.

"Hi, uh… They let me in because I showed them my badge." She looked around, her eyebrows furrowed. "Where's Jane, I thought he was with you guys."

"He didn't take the fact that you didn't invite him to your wedding well," Fischer answered carefully. A shadow crossed Lisbon's face, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, he should have thought about that before he ruined everything! Never mind, I… I came here because of Luther McKinnley. Have you found out anything about who might have killed him?"

"We can't give out information about an ongoing investigation," Cho said, but Fischer shut him up by waving a hand.

"It's okay, Cho. I think it's only fair we let Lisbon in on the investigation, since he killed her mother." Now both of them looked up to her, a stunned expression on their faces.

"How'd you know he killed my mom?" Lisbon fidgeted with the end of the belt of her winter jacket. She hadn't told anyone the name of the man who'd hit her mother on her way home from work, not even Jane. So how did she… oh. "You read my file."

Fischer shot her an apologizing look. "Well, back when the whole law enforcement system in California broke apart, we had to investigate you and your team, because you were the ones who caught Red John… Also, we had to keep an eye on you, because you received Jane's letters. Abbott wanted me to know who we were dealing with. It's part of the procedure, Teresa." Her voice was a little defensive, but Lisbon just nodded. She should have known as much, since she'd been working with law enforcement for so many years. It was still weird to know Fischer and Abbott probably knew more about her past than her own team.

"It's okay… I didn't know McKinnley died until I overheard Cho and Jane talking to Lucy Hall this morning."

"Yeah, I heard. Have you found a nice wedding dress?" Fischer wondered, and of course Jane took just that moment to push the door open and come back into the conference room with a steaming cup of tea in his left hand.

For a second they could all see the surprise about Lisbon's presence in his face, but he hid what he was feeling fast enough. "Lisbon. What a surprise. We haven't seen each other in six months and now twice in one day."

The woman in question didn't answer, she just threw him an angry look. She would get back to him later.

"I'll tell you later," she told Kim, before she took off her jacket and hung it over the seat of a chair. "What's the thing with McKinnley? How was he murdered?"

Fischer got up, trying to act professional with the building tension in the room. Jane was watching Lisbon like a hawk, but she didn't seem or rather want to notice. "He was found dead in his apartment last night. He had several gunshot wounds in his body, two in his head."

"Maybe it was an act of revenge or something," Lisbon suggested.

"We don't know. What we do know is that there were two similar murders with the same M.O. in just one week."

"Do you think they are connected?"

"The same guy killed them, of course they are connected _somehow_," Jane mumbled, annoyed. He didn't meet her eyes when Lisbon shot him a look.

"We haven't found a connection between the other victims just yet. They grew up in separate parts of the city, and as far as we know, they didn't have anything to do with each other. The first victim was an old woman named Zelda Higgins, a former middle school teacher, the other one Antonio Valentini, owner of an Italian restaurant in the city."

While Fischer continued, Jane suddenly sat down his cup of tea and rose. He walked over to the opposite side of the table where Lisbon was sitting and leaned on it.

"… got called in when Agent Dearman wasn't able to handle the case, so… Jane, you okay?"

Jane stared at Lisbon, who was looking at the table, eyes wide in shock. "You knew them," he stated. "You knew the victims."

Lisbon looked up, her face pale and her mouth slightly opened. She swallowed hard. "Yes… Mrs. Higgins was my English teacher in Middle school and Tony… I used to work with him at his father's restaurant to make some money when I turned 16, since my father wasn't in shape to work anymore. Someone had to bring money home for food and to pay the bills." They all knew what she was talking about.

"It could be a coincidence," Fischer murmured.

"It's not. I think we found our connection between the murder victims." Jane straightened up again, his eyes meeting Lisbon's.

"I can't believe this! McKinnley, Mrs. Higgins, Tony… It's… It's like someone is trying to kill my past."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here we go! Thanks everyone for your reviews to the last chapter. I'm sorry it took so long, but I had stuff to do for uni and real life was knocking at the door of my room.

I still hope you're enjoying this fic as much as I do! Thanks to Idan for betaing!

Liefs

* * *

(4)

Jane found her in the small kitchen area of the precinct, where she was just about to put some of the bitter tasting filter coffee into a paper cup. She was still shaking slightly; the news someone had killed three people she could connect to her past was still making her uncomfortable.

He hadn't been happy at all when he'd put two and two together after Fischer had told her the names of the other victims. There was no such thing as coincidence.

Lisbon flinched when he put a hand on her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't spill the coffee in her cup. "I want to take you out for coffee. Real coffee, not the bitter black colored water they pass off as coffee here."

"I'm not so sure that is a good idea, Jane," she answered.

As always, Jane didn't care one bit about what she thought. He took the cup from her hands and emptied it in the sink. "Come on, you need some fresh air, a coffee and some sugar to get your circulation going."

She hesitated for a moment, but she knew Jane was right. The coffee _really_ tasted bad and she needed some fresh air.

Around ten minutes later, they sat at a table in the closest Starbucks to the precinct. Jane had ordered her a large hazelnut latte and a double chocolate muffin to go along with it. Oh God, how long had it been since she'd had a sweet treat like this super chocolaty muffin here?

Jane raised an eyebrow when she didn't even try to suggest the muffin had too many calories and she'd rather not eat it. Until now, she hadn't even known how hungry she was.

"God woman, you eat like you haven't seen food in months! Is Marcus not feeding you enough?"

She tried to ignore the slight edge in his voice and just shrugged. "We're working. It's harder than I expected it to be. There's not much time for breakfast and stuff."

His lips formed a thin line while he eyed her from top to bottom. Her pullover hung loose around her shoulders, her cheekbones were more prominent and her wrists were so small he could see her bones through the thin layer of skin. How could he have not recognized this when he'd seen her in the bridal dress shop this morning?

It made him so angry, he had a hard time controlling his breathing. Although he'd always been kind of a pain in the ass, he'd always made sure Lisbon was eating enough and not living on coffee and energy bars.

Marcus displaced her to D.C. and now he didn't even make sure she was well taken care of! The bastard! Next time he saw him, he'd have to have a word with him.

Jane pushed his blueberry muffin toward her and took her empty plate. "Eat."

"I'm full, Jane… I can't possibly eat two!"

"Of course you can. Please. Eat it."

She looked at him nervously before she took a bite from the blueberry muffin. Maybe she should really consider having a better breakfast tomorrow. But skipping meals had become a habit.

"So, you and Marcus are getting married? When were you planning to tell me that? After you got back from your honeymoon? Or after you gave birth to your first child?"

She choked on her muffin and he patted her back carefully. "I don't think I want to have this conversation with you, Jane," she coughed.

"That's too bad, because I do. I think we should have a talk, Lisbon."

"I don't want to talk about stuff that is none of your business. You know what, I should just go." She rose, but Jane grabbed her wrist.

"You have to stop running away from me, Teresa. Please. I… I missed you. Please sit down and talk to me."

They stared at each other for over a minute. Lisbon could see he was still hurting, but she was still angry with him for everything he did. He had no right to be hurt, because she was the one who had been hurt in the process.

"Fine," she finally growled. "We can talk. But not about Marcus, my wedding or what happened in Miami!"

"You drive a hard bargain, but fine, I accept that. Although you do realize that we have to talk about these topics sooner or later." He took a sip of his tea while she sat down again, staring at her hands.

"How is work?"

Now she looked up, raising an eyebrow. "How is work, really?"

"You don't want to talk about your private life, so I have to ask you about your work life. Do you not like it in D.C.?"

"I do," she answered quickly. "The team is nice and there's a lot to do… It's much calmer when you don't have to pick up after someone's crappy schemes, you know?"

"You mean it's much more boring," Jane grinned. "So why are they not letting you go in the field yet?"

Lisbon didn't wonder how he knew she'd been stuck on desk duty for the first six months. "I think they want to see how good I really am, before they let me go… I had to do lots of desk work when I came to Austin."

"Yes, but that was because Abbott didn't know how good you really were. I thought Don offered you the job because he knew that you're an excellent agent. Why would he put you on desk duty?"

"I don't know, Jane. But I'm sure I'll get to go into field once I'm back."

"I'll make sure you will," Jane muttered, but Lisbon shook her head.

"No, you won't. It's none of your business and I don't need you to fight my battles for me, Jane. Look, I really should go home now."

"Are you staying with Tommy and Annie?" Jane asked. Of course he knew she was. Her relationships to her other brothers were fine, but she didn't get along so well with her sisters-in-law, so she preferred to stay with her little brother Tommy and her niece.

"Yes, I am."

"How is Annie? I haven't heard from her in a while."

She sighed, her eyes wandering over to the exit door. She wanted to leave so badly, because she felt awkward around him. He wanted to talk about her, about her wedding, Marcus and… _them_. But she didn't want to. She had a wedding to prepare for and in three days, she'd marry a really nice guy who tried to make her happy.

"Annie is fine. She's doing really well in school and wants to become a police officer. Tommy is not so happy about it, but she's too stubborn for her own good."

"She's just like her aunt," Jane smiled, "Have you taught her any of your clever police moves yet? Like taking down a suspect twice your size?"

For the first time since she was with him, she cracked a smile: "Oh, she keeps asking me to, but Tommy will kill me if I do. Though on the other hand, he wants me to show him some moves to scare the potential boyfriends off. I have to show her at some point though, because she really hates the bridesmaid dress Marcus' sister got her. She says it's the least I can do for her if she looks like a giant cotton candy at my wedding!"

"I'm sure she'll look beautiful. Just like her aunt."

Silence settled between them. Lisbon sighed loudly and clutched her cup of coffee tightly.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry for what happened, Teresa. I'm not asking you to believe me, but…"

"Jane… please don't."

"We have to talk about it at _some_ point, Lisbon!"

"Why can't you just understand I don't _want_ to talk about it?! You hurt me Jane, hurt me deep like no other man ever has. Multiple times. You tell me you want me to be happy and then you set up this whole scheme… you know what, forget it. It's over! I'm in a relationship now, I have a new life and I am going to marry Marcus on Saturday."

"But you're not happy with him! Come on, Teresa, he's boring, he's…"

"Don't you dare say anything bad about Marcus! Unlike other people, Marcus doesn't lie to me, he doesn't leave me at a beach, he doesn't just vanish for two years, he doesn't… You know what, you've had your chance, Jane, and you screwed it up big time. I will _never_ forgive you."

With this she rose, grabbed her purse and coat and headed toward the exit.

"I guess this means I'm still not invited to the wedding?" Jane called casually.

"Screw you!" was Lisbon's answer, before she ripped the door open and vanished.

The coffee house had become awfully quiet after their fight. People were staring at Jane, whispering with their partners.

Jane ignored them; he just stared out of the window, his cup of tea in his hands.

Xxxxx

When he returned to the precinct, he wasn't surprised to find out Lisbon was gone. Cho and Fischer were sitting at a table opposite each other, staring at some print outs from files and their laptop screens.

They both looked up when he entered the room and sat down on a chair close to Cho.

"Where's Lisbon?" Fischer asked curiously. So she left the coffee house right away and didn't come back here, Jane gathered.

"You pissed her off," Cho just stated without looking at him. His eyes were glued to his laptop screen and something which looked like a list.

"Meh. Women just always have to have the last word."

"That's not true!" Fischer said, annoyed.

"See?" Jane grinned. "What do you have there?"

"While you took Lisbon out for coffee, Cho and I sat down and connected the cases. Wiley did a background check on Lisbon and it turns out she was right. She knew the three victims more or less. At least they're all connected to her." Fischer got up and walked over to the whiteboard.

Jane suddenly realized there was a picture of Lisbon in the middle, the pictures of the three victims placed around her. "You don't think Lisbon did it, right?" he asked with an edge in his voice.

Fischer shook her head. "No, she's got alibis for the timeframes of the murders."

"What a relief," he mumbled sarcastically. "I wish I could be proven wrong, but there's no such thing as coincidence. Someone is killing people from Lisbon's past for a reason. What cases has she worked on in the last six months?"

"We talked to Don in D.C. Lisbon has mostly been on desk duty in the last six months and if she interrogated someone, it was at the HQ. He can't think of anyone who'd have the available resources to pull something like this off." Fischer came back to the table and sat down. "That's why we're going through old cases from the FBI, CBI, Cannon River and SFPD where Lisbon was involved."

Jane put a finger on his lips, thinking. "You do realize you're dealing with at least over 200 cases we are talking about! It would take weeks to look through them. Also, people were mostly pissed off with me, not with Lisbon. Cho. Name five people you think could pull something like that off."

Cho looked up, seeing how Jane walked over to the whiteboard and took a black pen.

"Carmen."

"Interesting choice. He's tried to frame Lisbon for murder once. That's why she doesn't trust psychiatrists anymore. Go on."

"Haibach's sister."

"Rigsby killed her brother. After everything they did to the team? Definitely worth looking into."

"What about Ridley and McKay?" Fischer asked.

"McKay is an art thief. Also, he'd be trying to kill me instead of Lisbon. But Ridley is a good choice. He doesn't have a problem killing people and he has the connections. He hates us for bringing down his human trafficking ring."

"Erica Flynn," Cho said.

"She's a cold blooded killer, but she wouldn't risk being caught with murder. She's manipulative and likes to have the upper hand, but I don't think this is a game she would play. Still, we should look into her, see if she's back in the game somewhere."

"Walter Mashburn," Fischer suggested.

Now Jane smiled. "Why would you think Walter Mashburn would want to kill people from Lisbon's past?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, he has enough money and he was involved in two cases when you were still with the CBI."

"Well, you're right. He has enough money and contacts to pull something like this off, but you have to believe me when I say that Lisbon and Walter had a very… _special_ relationship. He's not a man who would kill the only woman who ever dumped him."

"Teresa and Walter Mashburn?!" Fischer looked at him with her mouth open, but Jane just shrugged and exchanged a knowing look with Cho.

"What about Volker?" the Korean asked.

Jane's face turned hard. "Volker. Yeah, he could be our guy. He probably wants to take revenge on Lisbon for destroying him. He'd have enough money to pay someone off to do the killings for him. He's dangerous. If he's the one we're looking for, we have to be careful."

Jane wrote the name on the whiteboard and stared at the list. There were probably more, and by the look Cho and Fischer gave each other, there was a name on top of their tongues no one dared to say.

"What?"

Fischer cleared her throat. "Have you ever considered… Red John?"

"Red John is dead," Jane said quickly. "I killed him. I choked him to death with my bare hands. He got what he deserved and in the end he was just asking for mercy like the pathetic, weak man he was." It sounded so cold when he said it that way.

"Yes, maybe he is dead, but that doesn't mean his network is. Maybe the Blake Association is trying to get back at you though Lisbon."

Jane shook his head once again. "No. We got all of them. Even _if _we didn't find any, it would be too early to come back to the surface."

Fischer got up and walked over to the board, taking a pen herself. She could see the panic in his eyes and knew bringing the memories of Red John back was the last thing he wanted. But they were investigators, they had to look at every possible angle.

So she wrote _Blake Association_ down on the board and put the pen away. "Okay, we have seven suspects who could have a motive to take revenge against Lisbon. We should ask her if she can think of anyone who would want to hurt her. Maybe there is someone from her past we don't know about, someone who's angry with her. Let's each pick two and we'll be looking into the Blake Association together, okay?"

"We should go and talk to Lisbon," Jane suggested.

"No we won't, Jane. Don't you see she's pissed off at you? She's got so much going on with the wedding, we shouldn't drag her into this more than necessary." Fischer made a point, but he didn't like it.

"You could have still told me. If you were in my position, wouldn't it be something you'd want to know?" Cho and Fischer remained silent.

Xxxxx

After Lisbon had left Jane at the coffee house, she'd walked straight to Annie's car and drove to her school. She'd promised to pick her up after lunch time. She didn't care for being too early, but she just couldn't bring herself to go looking for another dress. Not after what happened this morning.

She turned off the motor and looked at Tommy's old school with a soft smile. Lost in thought about her childhood here in Chicago, she didn't feel her phone until it rang for the fourth time.

Sighing, she pulled it out of her pocket, hoping it wasn't Jane who was calling her. She was wrong, it was worse. Gina's number was blinking on the screen. For a moment Lisbon considered just letting it ring, but she knew Gina was going to call Marcus and he'd call her to tell her to call Gina back – which she didn't most of the time.

"Lisbon," she answered the phone, suppressing another sigh.

"_Teresa, this is Gina, hi! I just wanted to let you know that my plane arrives tonight and a friend of mine is going to pick me up at the airport.__"_

Lisbon nodded slowly, before she realized Gina couldn't see her through the phone. "Oh, that's great."

"_Yeah, you__'__re so busy, I don__'__t want you to go through any trouble to pick me up. You__'__re free tomorrow, so we can set up the decoration and everything for the location? I have to talk some things over with the florist and the man who will bring the doves, but I really want you to have a look at it.__"_

Doves? When the hell had Gina asked her about doves? Oh God, this wedding was going to be a big grab bag. "Yeah, actually I'm busy. My old team is here and has a case which kind of involves me… Would you mind taking care of this? I'm sure everything is going to be fine the way you planned it." Yeah, this was going to be Gina's little version of a dream wedding, not hers.

"_Are you really sure about this, Teresa? I don__'__t want you to feel like I__'__m the only one making decisions here.__"_

You were the one who made them the whole time, why suddenly think I should have a say in this? Lisbon thought and rolled her eyes. "No, it's fine. Marcus and I love that you take so much time to take care of everything."

"_Okay, you have no idea how relieved I am right now. Marcus told me you went dress shopping today. How__'__d it go?__"_

Oh no, what was she supposed to say? She couldn't possibly tell her she hadn't found a dress yet. "Fine, it was good, I think I found something very nice. I'm sure Marcus will like it."

"_Oh that__'__s good. I was actually kind of worried, because you took so much time to buy the most important piece for the wedding. Okay, listen, I__'__m at the airport and the check-in will start in a few. I__'__ll call you tomorrow, okay?__"_

"Sure… have a safe flight." She hung up on her soon to be sister-in-law and banged her head on the steering wheel. "Dammit, dammit, dammit… Holy crap!" A tap on her window made her jump.

Annie was standing next to it, a smug grin on her face. She walked around the car and got inside, giving Lisbon a headshaking look.

"What?"

"I heard you talking to Gina. You're such a bad liar, Aunt Reese. You don't have a dress." The younger girl threw her black bag on the backseat and waited for an answer.

"No, I don't, but I'll find one… Why are you even out yet? I thought class isn't over for half an hour!"

"The teachers let us go early, because we cracked the case at the beginning of the session," she explained, shrugging. "So what happened that you weren't able to buy a wedding dress?"

"What case?"

"In the beginning of every lesson, he gives us a mysterious murder to crack, and if we manage to crack the case with just ten questions, we're allowed to leave 30 minutes early. Mr. Baldrin thinks as a police officer you have to think abstract sometimes and be able to put everything together, even if some pieces of the puzzle are missing. He's really smart, kind of like Jane. And he's so good looking!"

"Annabeth!" Lisbon warned her niece, but smiled at the same time. She was incorrigible.

"What? Is a student not allowed to have a thing for a good looking teacher? I'm not a baby anymore. So, now I answered your questions, it's time to answer mine. What happened with the wedding dress?"

"What happened to my sweet little niece?" Lisbon mumbled in response, although she was very proud of her. Annie would become a damn good interrogator one day. Perhaps she could persuade Cho to give her some tips after the wedding was over.

"I was in the shop, trying on some dresses, when suddenly Jane and Cho came in. Jane ruined everything and I didn't buy one. Are you happy now?"

Annie's eyes sparkled in excitement. "Jane is here? I thought he wasn't invited for the wedding? Oh can we go see him, please?"

Lisbon shook her head. "He isn't invited, they're here for a case. And no, we will not go and see him! We have to find a dress now and you will help me, you hear me? Otherwise Gina is going to kill me when she comes over tomorrow and wants to see the non-existent dress I told her about!"

"You're such a bad liar, Aunt Reese, even I could tell you didn't get one and I was just _listening_."

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" Lisbon grumbled, before she started the car and drove off to the nearest bridal store.

"It's a Lisbon-disease," Annie just answered, winking at her.

Today was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey there guys! Thanks so much for your reviews to the last chapter :) Special thanks to the guest reviewers! I love that you take the time to write them! It makes me so happy to read them and really get me going!

Now have fun with the next chapter :)

* * *

(5)

It was late in the evening when Fischer, Cho and Jane stopped working the case and decided to drive to their hotel.

Volker was still in prison in California and there was no sign he'd be able to legally get out of there any time soon. It wasn't even sure that he'd get out alive. His lawyers were still trying to get the death penalty off the table after almost four years.

McKay was in prison, too. He'd been beaten up pretty badly just last week and was staying in the hospital ward of the prison with a heavy concussion.

Ridley'd managed to get the death penalty off the table, but he was a shady figure in prison. They'd take a closer look into him tomorrow.

The CIA had told them they were monitoring Erica Flynn in Beirut at the moment, where she was involved into a few illegal weapon deals. She desperately needed money because her assets in the US were still frozen and the stashed money in her off shore accounts was running out. She wouldn't make it longer than a few more months before she'd try to get in contact with the feds and try to offer them a deal. At least that was what Jane predicted.

Haibach was locked up in a psychiatric facility, just like Carmen, who'd managed to persuade the judges he was mentally ill after four and a half years in prison. Jane suspected he was just tired of getting beaten up by the big guys. Kim had asked the institutions about the files, but they'd need the permission of a judge first, which had taken some time. If they were lucky, they'd get the files the next afternoon.

And Red John… Well, neither Jane nor Cho were willing to consider that possibility.

After they left the precinct, Fischer asked if anyone wanted to join her for dinner in the pub next to the hotel. Jane formally declined and took off without another word. He looked tense and restless.

She feared he could try to see Lisbon, so she texted her former colleague to warn her just in case. Lisbon answered with a short "_Ok, thanks._"

Cho surprised her by joining her in the pub. They ordered two large beers, a bowl of fries and nachos and watched the game on TV.

Neither of them spoke much until the second beer. "I texted Lisbon Jane might be paying her a visit tonight. She considers herself warned."

"Good," Cho answered, eating another cheese laden nacho.

"Cho, listen, I… I know it's hard for you to talk about this, but I think we shouldn't exclude the possibility the person we are looking for is Red John. I mean just in case."

The Korean took a long sip of his beer before wiping the tiredness out of his eyes. "It can't be him. It just _can__'__t_."

"I know you went through a lot with him… I mean I don't," she answered quickly when Cho looked up. "I wasn't there… I didn't go through what you went through as a team. Abbott didn't tell me much, because it was so confusing for him. He didn't know if he could trust you."

"We didn't know who we could trust either. It was a horrible time back then."

"Please, tell me about it. I want to understand it better… I want to understand _you_ better."

Cho looked at her for a long time. His face was emotionless, but she could feel he was weighing his options. "All right. I'll tell you. But none of this leaves this room, you understand?"

Fischer nodded earnestly and listened to Cho's lowered voice.

"A few weeks before everything fell apart, we felt something was going on. Jane was being more secretive then ever and we knew if he was letting one person in, it would be Lisbon. We didn't know what was going on exactly, but we knew it was something big. Jane would stay up in his attic for days and Lisbon would come and go to her office. We wanted to be included, but we didn't dare ask what was going on. We knew if something important happened, Lisbon would let us in sooner rather than later.

"Jane had this list… A list of seven names. One of them was Red John. It included such different people… From Brett Stiles to Robert Kirkland, our former boss Gale Bertram, Brett Partridge, Smith, Haffner, McAlister… You probably know the names, because Lisbon gave them to you, but still.

"Things were tense. Lisbon wanted to protect us and Jane wanted to protect Lisbon. She told us, Rigsby, Van Pelt and me, although Jane had told her not to. We were glad we finally knew what was going on, but Jane didn't trust us. He could trust no one except Lisbon."

"But you were a team…" Fischer mumbled, confused. She knew Jane could be secretive and distrustful around people he didn't know, but they'd worked together for a decade…

"He had a good reason not to. I wouldn't have trusted anyone except Lisbon either. She was his anchor but also his Achilles heel. Red John knew, or he wouldn't have asked for her head in Vegas. But I think he only realized how deep in danger she was when he found her in the abandoned house with the smiley face painted on her face with Partridge's blood. I think for a moment he must have thought he lost her. Jane didn't leave her hospital bed until she woke up the next afternoon. He was scared for her life. He'd dragged her into this and painted a target on her back.

"He eliminated the suspects one after another. Well, all of them died except Smith. I don't really remember the cases we solved during those days, because everything was evolving around Red John. The only happy moment we had was Wayne's and Grace's wedding. Jane was trying to narrow down the suspect list and it felt like for some reason every case we had was connected to one of those. People were trying to spy on us… There were break ins, hacking attacks… You weren't even safe in your own home.

"I still don't know how we managed to keep it together. We were a team, a family, although Jane and Lisbon were the main players, we always stood behind them. It was a case involving Visualize when Jane got the information Red John had a tattoo on his shoulder. Three dots – which we know now was the identification for the members of the Blake Association.

"Jane had narrowed down the list of suspects to five. He wanted to bring them all together and find out who Red John was once and for all. So he ordered them all to his old house in Malibu. We weren't allowed to join them. Jane and Lisbon wanted to do it alone. I hated that they excluded us, but on the other hand, it saved our lives.

"He wanted to finish things off. He'd gotten a gun from a former suspect in a murder case, who took revenge on the murderer of his wife – at least that's what Lisbon told us. Because he didn't want to drag Lisbon any more into this, and because he feared for her life, he left her at the beach. He drove to his house, all alone. I don't know what exactly happened, but when Lisbon arrived, the house exploded."

Fischer took in a sharp breath. Her skin was showing goosebumps and suddenly she felt cold. Cho continued.

"We thought Stiles, Haffner and McAllister were dead, since Bertram and Smith were the only ones who were alive. First, Lisbon thought Smith was Red John, that's why she let Bertram go, and he tried to kill Jane at the hospital later. Jane was lucky Lisbon stepped in and he woke up at just the right moment. He told her then that Bertram had the same tattoo as McAllister and Smith. That's when the witch hunt began. We got Smith, who told us everything about the Blake Association."

Kim smiled. "Yeah, I remember him being _very _willing to talk when Abbott promised him a deal with the DA."

"Bertram managed to escape from a SWAT mission we set up to get him. Probably because of other moles in the CBI. That's when Abbott appeared and shut the CBI down. Everything was empty by the end of the day. Years of memories were wiped out in a few hours, and suddenly the building didn't feel like a home anymore to any of us. We couldn't trust anyone and Abbott couldn't trust us. That's why he started to investigate us, because we were in so deep and we were members of the agency Bertram ran.

"I don't really blame him, although back then, we wished for someone to just listen to us, believe that we were the good guys. Jane was gone. He wanted to make us think he'd given up, but we all knew he hadn't. Lisbon knew where he was, but she tried to protect us. Still, although everything had been broken apart already. She was a good boss, you know? Best boss I've ever worked with. I'd have gone through hell for her. We all would have."

"She can be glad she had such a loyal team," Fischer mumbled, her voice thick with emotion. It was different to hear all of it from someone who was involved in everything, instead of reading files. To her, everything had been clear then, but now she knew there was much more to it. More than any file about the Red John case ever could have told her.

"I don't really know what else happened, I just remember what Lisbon told me. She met up with Jane and gave him her weapon and car keys. She was still helping him, even if she knew he was going to kill Bertram once he found him. I don't blame Jane, I'd have killed him if he'd killed my family. Lisbon didn't go with him, because Jane didn't want her to. I think even after everything, he still wanted to protect her."

"They got Jane though," Fischer stated, remembering what Abbott had told her.

"Yeah. They put a bug on Lisbon's car, but we managed to make Abbott let him go. Instead, we got arrested. I still don't know what happened in that church at the Alexandria cemetery. I just know Bertram and Cordero were dead, another woman, who turned out to be a disciple, was injured and later, they found McAllister's dead body in a park. Jane was gone. He left nothing other than a voicemail for Lisbon, telling her it was over. Red John was dead, but for Lisbon, it wasn't the end of hell, it was only the beginning."

Fischer swallowed hard, her whole body shivering. "You were cleared during the investigation."

"Yeah, but after the CBI was shut down, Lisbon was lucky Minelli got her the job as a sheriff in Cannon River, because nobody wanted to have anything to do with her. Rigsby and Van Pelt decided to take some time off from the whole law enforcement thing. I was lucky Abbott wasn't a complete dick and told me to get some training and join the FBI." Cho sighed heavily. He looked at Fischer, who was still taken aback by everything he'd told her.

"Now you know why Red John _can__'__t _be involved, okay? We all went through hell, I think sometimes Jane and Lisbon more than the rest of us. If this wound breaks open again… I don't know who will survive when it's over."

He emptied his beer in one big gulp, his throat dry from talking. Fischer threw some money on the table and put her coat on. "Thanks for telling me, Cho. I think I understand your situation a little better now. I'm really sorry for everything you and the team had to go through."

Cho just nodded, holding the door open for her. "It's a bond we share, a part of us… all of us. We were a team for almost a decade."

She put her hand on his arm for just a moment, waiting for him to look at her. "I'm glad you're part of this team now… even if we have to deal with a lovesick consultant."

They both cracked a smile and walked over to the hotel in silence, not bothering to stop their shoulders bumping against each other from time to time.

Xxxxx

_Lisbon walked down the aisle with a beautiful flower bouquet in her hands. Marcus was waiting at the altar with the priest, Annie in her pink Miss-Piggy-dress standing next to them. She was really wearing brown leather boots. Gina must be so annoyed. The aisle was long, much longer than she__'__d expected it to be. She quickened her steps more and more, until she started running. _

_Marcus seemed to be farther and farther away instead of closer. Finally, Marcus came toward her. He took her hand in his. His grip was strong, almost painful, but she was glad she finally had something she could hold onto, something to guide her, since running didn__'__t help. _

_Lisbon gave Annie the bridal bouquet. She just shook her head, eyeing Marcus suspiciously. The ceremony went on. __"__Marcus, do you take Teresa to be your wife?__"_

"_I do,__" __Marcus answered and smiled at her. The priest went on. _

"_Do you promise to love and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?__"_

"_I do.__" __He took the ring from the little pillow one of her nephews was holding and put it on her left ring finger. Lisbon smiled at the ring, then up to him. But her smile froze when the man in the black suit didn__'__t turn out to be Marcus, but Jane. _

_She stared at him with wide eyes, trying to say something, but it was like someone tried to choke her. She needed air, she needed to breathe. _

"_Teresa, do you take Patrick to be your husband? Do you promise to love and cherish him, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, for so long as you both shall live?__" __the priest asked. _

_Her heartbeat increased. She tried to turn around and run, but her feet were glued to the ground. She couldn__'__t move. Jane smiled at her, his oh-so-incredible smile. _

"_I__… __I__…" __she whispered. The __"__no__" __was right on her tongue, but for some reason she couldn__'__t say it. Jane lovingly squeezed her hand and bent his head to her ear. Lisbon closed her eyes._

"_I know you__'__re scared, love, but so am I__…__.__"_

_Her eyes snapped open, and suddenly they weren__'__t in the church anymore. The room looked familiar, the white walls, the windows__… __the red smiley face on the wall__… __She was still wearing her wedding dress. _

"_I just wanted you to be happy. I__'__m sorry I couldn__'__t give you what you deserve. You__'__re better off without me. Good luck, Teresa. I love you,__" __he said, before McAllister came up behind him and cut his throat with a razor sharp blade. The blood splashed on her face, her dress, simply everywhere, and Jane__'__s lifeless body fell to the ground, the red smiley on the wall glowing like fire... _

"No! Jane!" Lisbon screamed, before she woke up, her whole body sweating like crazy. She was confused by her surroundings, didn't know where she was. Quickly, she felt for the little lamp on her bedside table and switched it on. Right, she was in Tommy's guest room. Everything had just been a crazy dream.

"Oh God," she whispered, touching her cross. She could still hear the blood in her ears rushing. She was about to marry Marcus, but Marcus had suddenly turned out to be Jane… Jane, who apologized for not being able to be the man she needed and was killed by Red John in the process.

Lisbon shuddered. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn't dreamt Jane getting killed by Red John since the day his first letter from his exile in Venezuela arrived. Was Jane suicidal? Was he in danger? Her dream could mean anything…

She took a few deep breaths, always counting to ten. A breathing exercise Jane had taught her once. After a while, she felt calmer, but there was no chance she'd be able to go back to sleep. A quick look on her phone told her it was just a little past seven, so she got up and took a shower to get rid of all the sweat on her skin.

When she came back, there was a message from Gina, asking her if she could meet her at the church at half past eight, to introduce her to her priest, Father Andrew, so she could take care of the decoration and music in the church.

Dammit, she still had to write her wedding vows. Groaning, she put on jeans and a soft wool shirt, then walked down into the kitchen to make breakfast for Annie and Tommy.

Xxxxx

When her car arrived at her old church at exactly five minutes to half past eight, she almost had a heart attack when she saw the blue lights of police cars and a very familiar yellow crime-scene tape in front of the church entrance.

She hurried out of the car, dismissing Gina, who was already coming her way, totally worked up. Gina tried to talk to her, but she flashed her badge to the policemen and ducked under the tape. The church was fully lit and police and crime scene techs were hurrying from one point to another.

Right at the altar, she could see a head with familiar blond curls, who turned around just in time to see her. His face was worried and surprised to see her.

The walk to the altar was long, almost as long as in her dream, but at some point she arrived, her eyes catching a glimpse of the dead body lying on the floor.

Fischer was the first one to speak. "I'm sorry, Lisbon. Father Andrew is dead."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for sticking around with me guys and sorry for the long wait for the next chapter. Real life can be a bitch sometimes. I hope you won't mind I won't be writing so much the next few weeks, because it's PCA time and I think we all should vote for The Mentalist, Simon and Robin, who are all nominees this year. I really hope we will win in at least one category, so that's why I'll be voting my butt off and I hope you'll forgive me and do the same.

Thanks to Idan for betaing!

Oh and if you haven't done so already, waterbaby posted a new fic which blew me away! Go read and leave a review begging her to continure asap ;)

Now enjoy this chapter. I hope you'll be surprised because the villain is gonna be revealed in the end!

Liefs

(6)

_The walk to the altar was long, almost as long as in her dream, but at some point she arrived, her eyes catching a glimpse of the dead body which was lying on the floor. _

_Fischer was the first one to say something.__ "__I__'__m sorry, Lisbon. Father Andrew is dead.__"_

Lisbon closed her fist around her cross. She was sitting in a row in the very back of the church, observing the crime scene techs doing their work. Gina had tried to call her three times, but she'd switched her phone off.

Father Andrew was dead. The now old man in his mid eighties, who'd known Teresa since her christening, was dead. After her mother had died, Father Andrew was one of the very few people who knew what was really going on in the Lisbon family.

She'd told him all about her abusive father, and he'd tried to support her as much as possible. He'd even respected her decision to not report his abusive behavior to the police. When she thought back, she'd always considered the Father as a good friend, and when she'd called him to ask if he would marry her and Marcus, he'd been happy to agree.

Now he was dead, and she couldn't shake the feeling it was all her fault.

She didn't look up when Jane sat down next to her, his hands folded in his lap. He didn't touch her, and she wouldn't have wanted him to.

"I'm sorry, Lisbon," he finally managed to say.

Lisbon simply nodded. "Four people, Jane. Four people were murdered because of me."

Jane sighed, a hint of desperation in his voice. "I know. Can you think of anyone who wants to hurt you? Anyone from your past?"

"No… I can't think of anyone. Why now, Jane? Why these people?"

"I don't know." Finally, he put a hand on her thigh, rubbing it lightly. "But I will find out. I promise you. You have to help us though. We're checking out the suspects, but…"

"Suspects, what suspects?" Her head shot up, eyes narrowed at him.

"I'll tell you, but you have to come to the precinct with us. I don't want to do it here. Who knows who is listening," Jane mumbled.

She stared at him. She and Jane had a very difficult relationship to churches. Last time they were in a church, he'd been gone for six months and scared the hell out of her. Last night, she'd dreamed about Jane and herself in this church… now they were here. But not because of her wedding, because of her priest's death.

"What do you mean _Who knows who__'__s listening_? Jane, what the hell is going on?"

Fischer chose this moment to come up to them, her expression worried. "Lisbon. I just got off the phone with Marcus. His sister called him, because apparently you turned your phone off. He's worried and will take the next flight from D.C. immediately. You should go and talk to his sister though. She's still waiting outside the church."

At the mention of Marcus, Lisbon felt Jane stiffen beside her. He removed his hand from her thigh and his expression became inscrutable.

"Jane said you're investigating suspects?" she asked.

Fischer agreed by telling her they'd talk about it at the precinct. So they all got up and followed Fischer outside, where Cho was already waiting in a car.

As soon as Gina saw her, she let out a yelp, rushing over to Lisbon and grabbing her shoulders. "Oh my God, Teresa! Marcus called me! Is it true? Did someone kill the priest?"

"Yes."

"Oh no, that's horrible! Oh no, oh no, what are we supposed to do now? Who is supposed to marry the two of you on Saturday now? What's with the church?"

"It's a crime scene," Fischer answered for Lisbon.

Gina put her hands on her head as if she was having a headache. "Where are we supposed to find a new location on such short notice?"

"Perhaps you should ask Lisbon if she still wants to go through with the wedding under these circumstances," Jane suggested, throwing Lisbon a quick look. Her face turned red, but he wasn't sure if it was because of anger or suppressing her urge to cry about Father Andrew.

"That's what you would like, Jane, right? To hell with your _I-just-want-you-to-be-happy-crap_! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're happy someone killed Father Andrew and messed up my plans," she snarled. "Of course the wedding will still take place, Gina! We just have to find a new place and someone with a licence. Please start looking, I'll call you once I'm finished."

With this she stalked off to her car, leaving Jane and Fischer looking after her in shock. Jane felt sick to his stomach. How could she think that? The crack in their relationship must be deeper than he ever expected.

"She didn't mean that," Fischer tried to console him. Although she was on Lisbon's side mostly, she felt a little pity for her colleague. He waved her off and walked to the car where Cho was waiting for them. Fischer followed him silently.

Xxxxx

The air in the conference room at the precinct was tense once they all arrived and went to work. Fischer laid out pictures of their suspects on the table, explaining to Lisbon that these were the people they were looking into at the moment.

"Can you think of anyone else who might want to hurt you?"

She looked up to the other woman and shook her head. Her gaze stopped at Volker's picture. She took it and looked at the man who'd been her personal nemesis, just like Jane's had been Red John. "Is Volker still in prison?"

"Yes. I talked to the California State Prison yesterday evening. He's still in their custody and it doesn't look like he'll get out of there any time soon," Cho explained quickly. His face was even more serious than it usually was.

Just like Jane, he was the only one who took the real danger coming from the murders into consideration.

"I want to know everything about what happens in the prison, who his friends are, if he gets any privileges, everything. Maybe he hired someone for this job."

Fischer took her order without questioning it. This wasn't the time to argue about who the boss was.

"The person who did this must either know you personally, or have had access to your file, Lisbon," Jane stated. "Are you sure there's no other ex-fiancé or someone you upset during your time here in Chicago?" She just gave him an annoyed look, turning back to the wall with the pictures.

Unbeknownst to her, Jane took a deep, calming breath. He was starting to get really pissed at Lisbon's attitude toward him. He didn't kill the priest! It wasn't his fault someone tried to ruin her wedding, and against all judgement, he really felt sorry for her.

"What about Carmen?" Lisbon asked, shuddering when she thought back to the night Jane helped her to prove her innocence by convicting Carmen. Jane tensed, remembering the case, too. Everything had been different back then. They'd been good colleagues, friends even. The case happened shortly after he shot Hardy to save her life. Afterwards, there'd been a shift in their relationship. They'd been closer than before. She looked up and their gazes met.

Suddenly, she felt a little sorry – but only a little. She'd been very harsh with him this morning, but she wasn't going to apologize, mainly because she thought she wasn't really wrong in what she'd said. Jane had never wanted her to be happy with Marcus, or he wouldn't have set up the scheme in Miami in the first place.

"We're still waiting for the institute to send us the file. It's 7:30 in the morning in California. We should have them around noon" Fischer explained.

"Does the church have any security cameras?" Lisbon asked. She still couldn't get over the fact that someone would murder a priest, _her _priest, to get back at her for something. If there'd been any doubt of the murders not involving her, it could be wiped out now.

She didn't want to think about what it would mean, who could be next. She had to protect her family and friends from getting hurt. That included the people from the team, too. If this person wasn't stopped by the sanctity of a church, what would stop him from killing someone in her family?

"I want 24 hour protection for my brothers and their families," she finally said. It was the least she could do to make sure they were safe. Perhaps she should ask for someone to protect Gina, too. Who knew if this man would try to kill her future sister-in-law to get back at her? She swallowed hard. She should call Marcus and tell him what was going on. He was already worried about her. Would it be better to cancel the wedding? No. No, she had to go through with this.

"I'll see what I can do Lisbon, but if we're not making progress on this case any time soon, I can't say how long we can protect them. The murderer has left us no message and no evidence whatsoever of these murders being connected to you. We just _think_ they are, because you know all these people from your past." Fischer tried to stay professional, but she was scared for Lisbon's safety nonetheless.

"If you want protection for your family, you should get protection, too," Jane announced.

The woman in question shot him an angry look. "Oh yeah? You know what Jane, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. And who's going to be my bodyguard anyway? Cho and Fischer are busy trying to solve this case. Who else? You? You can't even take care of yourself without nearly getting killed! I can't trust you Jane. Who knows what will happen when you come up with a crazy plan and vanish off the surface of the earth again?"

"Could you please stop acting like all this is my fault?!" he hissed angrily. She was blaming him for everything, which was just not fair.

"Well it _is_! Things started to go crazy once _you _turned up here!"

Jane was about to object when Cho stepped in. "He's right, Lisbon. You should get protection, too." He didn't like to agree with Jane, but if these murders were aimed against Lisbon, she had to be protected.

"Marcus will be here tonight. If you so desperately want someone to be on the look out for me, it can be him."

"Fine, but until then, you'll stay with us, Teresa." Fischer's tone didn't tolerate any objection.

"I have to organize my wedding!" she protested.

Jane made an amused noise, which made her turn around, ready to throw the nearest pen at his head.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Fischer yelled. She had four murders to solve and no time to put up with this kindergarten.

"I'll go with you until Marcus arrives. Listen, I know this is hard for you right now, but until we can be sure who is responsible for the murders, we won't let you out of our sight."

"Fine," Lisbon sighed. "What can I do? How can I help you?"

"Jane and Cho, you'll go back to the crime scene and check out the area and the neighborhood. Maybe someone's seen something. Lisbon and I'll stay here until she's got to meet up with her sister-in-law."

Jane raised an eyebrow when he saw the face Lisbon made at the mention of Gina. She had a complicated relationship with Marcus's sister… he was wondering why. Without another word or goodbye, Cho and Jane left the precinct, determined to check out if anyone had seen anything they could connect to Father Andrew's death.

Xxxxx

Fischer and Lisbon stayed behind, watching the door close.

Fischer let out a loud sigh before she turned to Lisbon, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What?" Lisbon asked innocently.

"Jeez, what are you doing, Teresa?"

"I don't know what you mean." She sat down again, trying to avoid Fischer's gaze.

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about. If I locked you up in a room with Jane and went to check after 15 minutes, I'm not sure both of you'd make it out alive. Do you really mean what you said at the church? Do you really believe he's happy about all these complications, that it's _his _fault?"

Lisbon didn't answer. She knew she was being petty, but one part of her was still mourning the break up of their friendship, while the other was determined to hate him. "It… it looks like he's happy about it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I know he didn't kill these people, but whenever he opens his mouth, I just want to punch him!"

"That's stupid and you know it," Fischer said louder than Lisbon had expected her to. "I told you how miserable he was after you left. He missed you. Hell, everyone could tell he missed you more than anything, but he was too proud to call you or ask us how you are."

"Oh you don't know a _thing_," Lisbon countered angrily when Fischer mentioned the call.

"He made you the top point of his list, Lisbon! Do you know why they sent me? Because Abbott thought I'd remind him of you! He mumbled _your _name when I brought him home that night in Venezuela."

She was very quiet all of a sudden. She knew Jane and Fischer had met on the island, but neither of them had ever bothered telling her about it. It was the first time Fischer had even mentioned it.

Fischer looked at her, debating what to say. She couldn't go for what she had in mind for obvious reasons. Instead, she settled for something else.

"I know that he's scared for your life, Teresa! Whoever is behind these murders wants to hurt you, and it kills him inside to think about you getting hurt after everything that happened with Red John." She knew Cho would kill her for bringing Red John up, but she had to make Lisbon realize how important this was without asking her if she was too blind to see Jane was still madly in love with her. "I don't want this team to work against each other, to think one wishes the other one misery. Jane wants to protect you, and so do we."

"What do _you _know about Red John? That is _over_."

Fischer shook her head. "No, it's not, and you know it. We can't rule the Blake Association out just yet. We have to be careful."

"I'm _not _going to cancel my wedding!" Lisbon shouted vehemently.

"No one is asking you to!"

"Jane wants to ruin it!"

She rolled her eyes. "There, you're starting it again! He'd never do that, Teresa, and you know it. He might not be happy about you marrying Marcus and not telling him about it, but he'd _never_ try to sabotage your wedding."

Lisbon looked up, torn between her thoughts. "You don't know him as well as I do."

"Please, Lisbon. Of all the crap Jane has pulled, he'd _never _do this. When you left after Miami, he decided to let you live your life, to leave you alone, just like you asked him to."

"Yeah… maybe… I just don't know! It's too much at the moment. These murders… someone is trying to get back at me and I don't know who… and why now, why before my wedding?"

Fischer sat down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know. But we'll find out." The _ping_ of her computer captured her attention, so she walked over and checked her e-mail, glad for the interruption.

"They sent Carmen's file. Come over; let's see how he's been behaving lately."

Lisbon sighed and got up, walking over to Fischer's laptop. "I thought he was still in prison. I never knew they put him into a psychiatric facility."

Fischer scrolled down to the first page, feeling Lisbon tense next to her. "What? What's wrong?"

Lisbon stared at the screen, her mouth slightly opened. "Are you… are you sure this is the right file?"

"Yes, that's the file of Roy Carmen, former psychiatrist at the CBI, imprisoned for the murder of William McTier."

"No… no, that's not Carmen."

Fischer looked confused. "What do you mean that's not Carmen? Did they send us the wrong file?"

"The man in the picture," Lisbon whispered, "it's not him."

Fischer went back to her files on the desktop, checking the databases for the murder of William McTier. After a while, the laptop opened a file from the CBI containing the details of the murder. There was a picture of Roy Carmen in his prison uniform, which matched the picture in the psychiatric facility's file. "Look, the pictures match. It's the same guy."

Lisbon shook her head. "No! It's not him… I swear this is another man!"

"Oh my god, if you're right…"

"Carmen is free," Lisbon mumbled. "It's him… He's the one who's killing all these people."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed Halloween last night and you're in the mood for a new chapter! Thanks for the reviews to the last one, you guys are great!

Special thanks to Idan for betaing and waterbaby for her shout out!

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(7)

When Jane got the call from Fischer about Carmen being their number one suspect from now on, he was surprised and pleased at the same time. For one, it would be really interesting to find out how exactly Carmen managed to escape from the psychiatric ward or rather made another man take his place. Carmen knew a lot about Lisbon's past. Who knew what she'd told him or what he made her tell him while she was under hypnosis.

Jane shuddered. Lisbon was such a strong minded spirit; it was horrible to imagine all the things this man could have done to her while she was under hypnosis. He's had the privilege of a hypnotized and vulnerable Lisbon only once, when she'd asked him to during the McTier case. Although most people back at the CBI thought he must hypnotize her on a regular basis, otherwise she wouldn't put up with his crap.

Second, Jane wondered who else was behind this. Carmen was a crazy sociopath and murderer, but he would never be able to kill four people within a week without leaving any trace behind. It was a puzzle he had to solve and he had to hurry, because Lisbon's life, and the lives of her family, were in danger.

One thing was certain, he would do anything in his power to protect Lisbon from harm. He owed her that much.

Cho got off the phone with Fischer and passed it back to Jane. His face showed no emotion, but Jane knew he was simmering inside. "Should we continue here or go back to the precinct?" the consultant asked.

"Fischer said we should continue here. She won't let Lisbon out of her sight," Cho added. It relieved Jane to know at least one person he thought capable of protecting her was with her. Of course, he'd prefer someone he could trust one hundred percent, too, someone like Cho.

"Then let's get this over with and see if one of the neighbors has seen something. I bet the old lady in the house with the pink curtains over there knows something. She's been staring at us through the gap between the curtains for a while now." Cho looked over to the house Jane had just described and frowned when the gap between the curtains quickly closed, like the woman knew she'd been caught.

They walked over to the door and knocked. It took a while before someone carefully opened the door. An old lady dressed in a flower patterned dress eyed them suspiciously. Jane gave her a quick cold read while Cho introduced them. Husband died early, no children. She has a cat but no other living relatives or close friends. The only time she comes in contact with other people is on Sundays after church, but she still knows everything that's going on in this area. Interesting.

"… so we were wondering if you've seen something." Cho took out his little notepad.

The woman glanced at Jane. "You look a little bit like my Arthur, boy. He used to wear suits just like you, but he always wore a vest and tie with them. He was a good man."

Jane smiled affectionately. "I'm sure he was. I'm very sorry for your loss, Mrs…?"

"Clark. I heard about the death of Father Andrew before. Was he really murdered in front of the altar?"

Someone did their homework, Jane thought. "Yes he was, Mrs. Clark. And the man who did this murdered three other people. We don't know who is next."

Her eyes widened in fear.

"That's why it's important for you to tell us everything you might know about this murder." Jane stepped closer to her, never breaking eye contact.

"Why do you think I know something?"

"Because you seem to me like you're the only one who knows what's really going on in this neighborhood."

Mrs. Clark straightened her shoulders. "That's right. Someone has to be informed and on the look out. My Arthur always said we have to stay informed about what's going on in the world, the country, even in this street. So, I saw a black car driving down this street at 7 am. It came back fifteen minutes afterwards."

"What did the car look like?" Cho asked.

"It was very big and black."

Jane and Cho exchanged quick glances. There were thousands of big black cars in Chicago. But the time of the murder sounded about right.

"Did you get a look at the license plates?"

"No, it was too dark outside. But I remember the man in the car threw a wrapper out of the window, which landed on my lawn. Intolerable!"

"Where's this wrapper now, Mrs. Clark?" Jane asked immediately.

"Well, I picked it up and threw it into the garbage cans. I can't just let it stay on my lawn, can I?"

Next thing Jane knew, Cho was picking though Mrs. Clark's trash in search of said wrapper. In former times, Cho would have tossed a coin with Rigsby, but he knew he'd lose against Jane, so he volunteered.

"I think I found it," the Korean announced after less than three minutes, holding up an empty Snickers wrapper. "Mrs. Clark doesn't seem to me like a Snickers kind of woman." He put the wrapper into a zip-lock bag and stashed it inside his jacket.

Since there was nothing more they could do, they walked back to the car and drove down the road. Jane was surprised Cho didn't choose the route they took on their way there.

"Where are we going?" Jane asked, surprised. He thought Cho would want to go straight back to the precinct.

"Lisbon asked me to pick Annie up at the Community College. She doesn't want her to take her bike back home because of Carmen. She thinks it's better for all of them to be together in case something happens."

"That makes sense," Jane murmured while an idea was forming in his head. He leaned back in his seat, a light smile on his lips. Maybe Annie was the key to everything…

Xxxxx

Annie was more than pissed when she was sought out by her teacher and told to come with him after the class was over. He'd brought her to the secretary's office, where she had to wait without any explanation of what was going on.

For a second she felt like she was back in high school, when she'd played all those tricks on her teachers and was sent to the principal's office to be put in detention.

"Seriously, why am I held hostage here?" the teenager asked, annoyed.

"I am not allowed to talk about it, Miss Lisbon. You may not leave until someone from the police comes to pick you up," the secretary answered, turning back to her computer.

In any other case, Annie would have taken a chance and run, but since her aunt was with the police at the moment, she was sure there had to be a reason she was not allowed to go to her other classes.

When the familiar looking blond and Korean men stepped through the doors of the secretary's office, Annie started grinning. "Jane! Cho! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Lisbon wants us to bring you home," Cho explained shortly. He walked over to the reception desk and showed his badge and ID to the secretary, who wrote everything down.

Annie turned to Jane, who looked at her with admiration. She was very tall, her hair bound up in a high pig tail, and her features resembled her aunt's. For a moment Jane wondered if Lisbon had looked the same way when she'd been around eighteen/nineteen. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you."

"It's been what, six years? I'm not the only one who looks different. Your vest is gone."

Jane looked down. He had never bothered to go back to wearing vests once he came back from Venezuela, because they reminded him of the old Jane, who had hunted Red John. Red John was dead and so were the vests. The island shirts emanated his new-found independence, his freedom… and failure at the same time. The failure to finally build a new life with the woman he loved.

"So I heard you want to become a police officer just like your aunt?"

"I do. I want to kick asses just like Aunt Reese. Maybe the two of us can practice at some point, I heard you're a very good target." Annie grinned at him and winked.

"I'd rather not," the consultant answered.

Once Cho came back, the three of them got inside the car and Cho followed Annie's directions back to her house.

"Okay you guys, I don't want to complain but why did you have to pick me up at the college? What's going on? Is something wrong with Aunt Reese?"

Cho and Jane exchanged looks. They weren't sure exactly how much Lisbon had told her niece about the murders, but Annie was old enough to know what was going on in case something happened.

"A former psychologist named Roy Carmen framed your aunt for murder a long time ago. We were able to convict him of killing McTier and he was put in jail. Now it seems like he's managed to get out of there and is possibly responsible for killing four people here in Chicago. Every victim is connected to Lisbon in a way and now she's scared a member of her family is going to be next," Jane explained. He didn't mention he feared Carmen would skip her family and go after her directly. He swallowed and turned back to Annie. "That's why Cho and I picked you up and will wait at your house until your father arrives."

"Holy shit that's so cool!" Annie exclaimed. "I'm in the middle of a case and I'm a possible target."

"It's not funny," Cho said.

"No, it's not funny but it's really cool practice for later. I'm sure Mr. Baldrin will let me analyze this case for my next term paper. Do you think Reese will let me look at the case files once you solve it?"

Jane sighed and shook his head. If Annie knew about the danger they were all in, she wouldn't be so eager about this. He'd have to talk to Lisbon, because he didn't want Annie to do anything stupid that could endanger her or her family.

They arrived at Tommy Lisbon's house. Cho walked in first to check the rooms for an unwanted intruder, but everything was clear. Annie was happy to help Cho sweep the rooms for bugs and lock the windows, while Jane prepared a cup of tea down in the kitchen.

While he waited for the water to boil, he sat down at the coffee table, interested in a bride magazine. He'd never taken Lisbon for someone to plan her wedding with the help of bride magazines, but once he opened the first page, he saw the small yellow post-it saying _"__Teresa, I marked some things for the flowers, decorations, and other stuff. Please check it and tell me if you like it or not, so I can arrange everything.__"_

He thumbed through the pages of the magazine, more and more horrified with every page he was turning. Had Lisbon really given her okay to all of this?

"You haven't seen the horror of a bridesmaid dress that woman is making me wear! I look like Miss Piggy. This whole wedding is a nightmare in pink and white!" an annoyed voice behind him said.

Annie was back in the kitchen, walking over to the stove to turn off the boiling water. Jane watched her prepare the tea just like he would have done it. When Annie set down the cup in front of him, he raised an eyebrow.

"You know, when you were gone, Aunt Reese used to prepare tea just like that for everyone who came to visit her in Cannon River. I think it reminded her of you and gave her something to hold on to." She didn't sit down next to him, just stared. "One time when my dad and I were visiting her, he was up in the shower while I was down in the kitchen with Aunt Reese. She made tea and coffee for everyone even if nobody drank the damn stuff. This one time she was out of milk and started crying. '_That__'__s not how _he _likes it_,' she said. You broke her heart, and back then I'd have liked nothing more than to track you down and break your nose, Jane."

Jane flinched, knowing exactly how much a Lisbon-punch could hurt. He knew Lisbon must have missed him a lot when he was gone. That's why he kept sending all those letters to her: to remind her he was still alive and to keep himself sane on the lonely island. Sometimes he got to see glimpses of how the time during their separation must have been for her, but once he came back to the States, he'd been so happy to finally have her back, he hadn't wasted a lot of thought on the topic.

"You know when I first met you, I always thought the two of you would kind of wind up together. But instead of making things right, you screwed it up. Now you're an emotional wreck and she's about to marry a man she doesn't love." Finally, Annie sat down opposite him, staring right into his eyes. "So what is your plan?"

The consultant was startled. "What plan?"

"The plan to stop this wedding."

She was being crazy, right? She couldn't possibly want him to stop this wedding from happening. "What makes you think I've got a plan?" He didn't have a plan, because he swore to himself not to intervene. He had his chance in Miami and screwed it up. Now he was paying the price.

Annie rolled her eyes. "You're Patrick Jane, you _always _have a plan!"

Jane sighed, his gaze falling back on the bride magazine. The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he should do something about this situation. No, he'd sworn to himself to let Lisbon be happy, even if it was with Pike and not him. "I swore to myself I'd let Lisbon be happy."

"But she's not!" Annie argued.

"That's for your aunt to decide. No one forced her to move to D.C, no one is forcing her to marry Pike, no one is forcing her to do any of this." Except Pike and his sister, that is.

"Everyone knows she's doing it because she wants to prove something to herself. There's a bet running in the family when exactly she's going to back out on everything." Annie crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I don't think it's right to do that. I love Aunt Reese, she's my role model in so many ways and I want her to be happy. Now the situation between the two of you might be screwed up because of whatever happened in Miami, but I know the _only _man who will ever make her happy is _you, _Jane!"

If Annie only knew how wrong she was, Jane thought bitterly. He wished he could be the man Lisbon needed, but he was not. "You haven't even met Pike."

"I don't care, Jane. He can be the nicest guy in the world, but he's not what Reese needs. She needs excitement, she needs challenges and she needs… _you_." Annie got up, took his wrist and pulled him up from his chair. They walked up the stairs to her room, Annie closing the door behind them. She rushed over to her closet, pulling a bright pink dress out of it.

"I _can__'__t_ wear this dress! I will not look like a giant cotton candy at my aunt's wedding! This wedding, it's a farce! Gina planned everything and Reese doesn't even have a wedding dress yet. You have to do something!"

"And the priest was just murdered this morning, so the church is a crime scene," he murmured. Annie looked shocked at the news. Damn it, he should have been more tactful about the death of Father Andrew. Annie must have known him, too.

"Father Andrew is dead?" she whispered. Everything she complained about before was forgotten now.

He just nodded and took the dress from her so she could sit down on her bed. The dress was really ugly, he thought as he put it back in the closet and sat down next to Lisbon's niece.

"I'm really sorry, Annie."

"Was it this Carmen guy who killed him?" she asked, wiping her eyes to prevent tears from falling.

"We are sure it was him, yes. We are looking for him, but we don't know what he's planned next. That's why it's important you, your family and Lisbon are safe." He'd make sure of Lisbon's safety himself, if he were allowed to, but…

"Will you take care of Aunt Reese?" Annie asked, looking right up at him.

"I wish I could. She doesn't want me to. Once Agent Pike arrives tonight, he will be here to protect you, your dad and her."

"But you will do everything you can to protect her, right? Even if she doesn't want you to. I mean you _never _listen to her." She looked up, her eyes pleading. For some reason she didn't trust Pike and Jane wondered why. Maybe it was because she had never met the FBI Agent; maybe it was because she still hoped he'd change the course.

"I will," he promised in a low voice.

The girl nodded, hugged Jane and buried her face in his shoulder. She was really upset about the death of her priest and the wedding of her aunt. Carefully, he patted her back, whispering calming words in her ear.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hello everyone! Wow what a day for the fandom! We are nominated for 3 categories for the PCA's AND got the premiere date for the 7th season on November 30th! PLUS A TWO HOURS FINALE!

I advise you all vote for The Mentalist, because this year we really really have to win this!

And if you need a break, please take the time to read my new chapter here ;) I hope you enjoy! 

Special thanks to Idan for betaing and waterbaby who took the time to go back and review every single chapter of this fic! Also a HUGE thank you to all of you faithful readers! You're amazing!

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(8)

It was almost past lunch time when Fischer and Lisbon finally arrived at Tommy Lisbon's house. Tommy and Cho were sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee when the women stepped in.

Tommy rose immediately, hugging his sister tight. "Cho told me what happened. Are you all right?"

"I'm okay, thank you. I'm so sorry for all the mess Tommy. Where is Annie?" Lisbon apologized. She hated to drag her family into this, but she had no choice. Everyone was a target now, especially Tommy and Annie, because she was living with them.

"Annie is upstairs. She's really upset about Father Andrew's death. She liked him a lot." Tommy gestured toward the coffee table, where Cho was about to pour the hot beverage into two cups.

He noticed Fischer looked exhausted and felt sorry for her. This case wasn't easy for any of them.

While Lisbon took the cup from Cho, she looked around, noticing the absence of one specific person. "Where's Jane?"

"I'm here," a muffled voice came from the living room. Lisbon raised an eyebrow but didn't go over to see what was going on. Jane finding the time to take beauty naps showed how much he cared about the case. Instead she turned back to Tommy and Cho, who pulled out the Snickers wrapper.

"We found this in the trash can from one of the neighbors. She said she saw a dark van driving up and down the street during the time of the murder. The man in the van threw this out of the window in her front yard," he explained.

"Are we sure it's from Carmen?" Fischer asked, sighing.

"We should give it to forensics, but who knows how fast they can track down any fingerprints. Still, it's a lead, the only lead we have at the moment." Cho gave the plastic bag to Fischer, who tucked it inside her jacket pocket. She turned to Tommy.

"Mr. Lisbon, Agent Lisbon ordered that a vehicle with two members of the Chicago PD be on the lookout in front of your house. I advise you and your daughter to not leave the house except in the case of an emergency until we can make sure no one is going to harm you."

"Oh come on, you want to lock us up in our own house? I was a bounty hunter for five years, I can take care of myself. We don't need the police in front of our house."

"Tommy please, it's for your own safety," Lisbon said, giving him the big-sister-attitude. "It's just until Marcus arrives tonight. Jimmy and Peter also have protection in front of their houses. I don't want anything to happen to you or Annie when I'm not here. I want to find Carmen before Saturday."

"Do you really want to go through with this wedding even though so many people were murdered?" Tommy asked, looking at her like she was insane.

"That's not your decision. The two officers will watch this house, whether you want them to or not." Lisbon put down her cup of coffee, her eyes locked with her brother's. The staring contest was on, but neither of them wanted to give in. After over a minute of silence, Tommy finally nodded, his gaze wandering over her head to the living room.

"Very wise to listen to your sister," Jane said in a pretty nasal tone.

Lisbon turned around, surprised to see Jane holding some kind of ice pack on his face, particularly his nose. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I think your brother had some unfinished business with me. This family's got a hell of a punch." Jane firmly pressed the ice on his nose, closing his eyes in pain.

When Tommy Lisbon had arrived at his home, Cho had greeted him at the door. They came into the kitchen and the next thing Jane knew was that he was lying on the floor, his nose hurting and bleeding. Well he guessed he'd deserved that. Tommy hadn't said another word, not even apologized, while Jane picked himself up and wandered toward the fridge to get some ice from the freezer. It was a silent understanding between the two men.

Lisbon gaped at her brother, not sure what to say and debating if she should say anything at all.

"It's okay, Lisbon. No hard feelings," Jane reassured her. Tommy silently nodded.

It was Kim who reminded Lisbon of the time and told her to keep going. They switched partners – Cho would accompany Lisbon to her meeting with Gina, who'd called to tell her she found a new church, while Fischer and Jane would drive back to the precinct to bring the Snickers wrapper to the crime techs.

"I think we should check the traffic cameras and see if we can find the van our witness mentioned. Jane? Are you coming?" Fischer asked, slightly annoyed when she saw her consultant wasn't even looking.

"I'll just go upstairs and say goodbye to Annie, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead walking up the stairs to the second floor, where the bedrooms were located. To his surprise, he found Annie's bedroom door open. He entered the room quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone. Lisbon was sitting on the edge of Annie's bed, caressing the sleeping teenager's hair.

She looked up, her face full of concern, and Jane stepped closer. "I thought you and Cho already left."

"I wanted to see how she is… Cho said you were there for her. Thank you."

Jane looked at Annie's sleeping silhouette and smiled softly. He stepped closer to the bed and knelt down so he was at the same height as Lisbon. "She's a great kid… smart, strong, ambitious with a big heart. She's so much like you." He wondered exactly how much Lisbon had told her family… about Miami and everything, because for some reason Annie was still on his side, hadn't given up on him and Lisbon.

Lisbon smiled, her hand resting on the mattress now. "That's what Tommy always says. She's too smart for her own good sometimes. Yes, she is strong – apparently she's got a hell of a punch!"

"Just like her aunt and her dad," Jane grinned. His nose still hurt, but it was nothing in comparison to Lisbon's punches. Tommy Lisbon could learn a thing or two from his sister.

"I hope she won't make the same mistakes I made though."

Jane covered her hand with his, surprised when she didn't pull away. He could see the flash of bitterness passing over her face, and he wondered what mistakes she was thinking about. Was it marrying a man she didn't love? Was it falling in love with her consultant who broke her heart over and over again until she finally couldn't take it anymore?

Lisbon looked at him for a fraction of a second, and Jane knew what she was thinking about. Things could be completely different if he hadn't been such a coward. She could have been his months ago, but he'd been stupid enough to think she would wait.

Annie murmured something in her sleep and turned away from Lisbon. She pulled her hand away from Jane's and got up. "We should go," the brunette mumbled.

She was halfway out the door when he stopped her by taking her wrist. "Lisbon… please. I want to talk to you, just the two of us alone."

She flinched like a deer in the headlights, pulling her hand away from his grasp. "There's nothing more to talk about, Jane. I have to leave now, Cho is waiting." Without another word she turned around and left.

_There is so much to talk about_, Jane thought. Sighing, he leaned against the door, feeling watched all of a sudden. "Enjoy the show?" he asked while turning around.

Annie looked at him, a somber expression on her face. "Don't let her have the last word in this, Jane. She needs you, don't you see? You have to fix this."

"I know… I just don't know how." They looked at each other, their gazes saying more than words. Finally, Jane nodded and walked downstairs, where Fischer was already waiting.

Xxxxx

It was late in the evening when Lisbon dropped Cho off at the precinct and drove Annie's car toward the airport to pick Marcus up. He'd offered to come with her, but she'd declined. She didn't want Cho or anyone else to be there when she picked Marcus up.

After everything had gone wrong since she arrived in Chicago, this afternoon, for the first time, something had gone right. When Cho and she arrived at the new church Gina had picked out for them, she was relieved it was a really nice place.

The priest, a younger man, had explained she wasn't the only one looking for a new church on short notice. There were three other couples, all their weddings taking place next week, who'd asked if he was able to squeeze them into his full schedule.

The priest had told her God was always there for his sheep and so he would be. They could marry in St. Cecilia on Saturday; they would just have to come by tomorrow to talk about the final things for the ceremony.

Gina would be taking care of everything else – the music, the flowers, the seating, the rings. The wedding would take place just like they had planned. Lisbon had been relieved nothing was standing in the way of her wedding… except for four murders and her former psychologist who probably wanted to take revenge. Oh, and there was Jane. But the wedding would still take place. She wanted it to take place, didn't she?

There was no chance to back out now – not that she wanted to back out. She wanted this wedding. She had agreed to marry Marcus the moment she had left the Blue Bird Inn in Miami. Everything was set now. Teresa Pike. Mr. and Mrs. Pike. The lump in her throat grew bigger and bigger.

She switched lanes, careful to not break the speed limit. The only time she had broken the speed limit in the last three years had been that night when Jane abandoned her during sunset. Usually he was the one to break the speed limit, something she'd always hated. Marcus never broke the speed limit; he was always playing by the book, just like her. Did that make them boring? With Jane, nothing would ever be boring, but the days with Jane were over.

She had excitement in her job. Not yet, but there would be. She had excitement in D.C., too! They had a great apartment in a nice neighborhood, and they could even share the yard with the other people who lived there.

"_There are two offices. I thought it would be nice, so we each have our own space,__" __Marcus grinned. Lisbon was talking to him over the phone, while he went apartment shopping in D.C. _

"_I__'__m sure you__'__re going to love it. You can have the office with the view of the park, if you want to. It__'__s right next to our bedroom.__"_

"_That would be nice,__" __she smiled. Although she__'__d promised herself to not turn into a workaholic again with her new job, she liked the idea of having her own room._

"_I will take the other one. It__'__s a little bigger, but in case we need another room, we can always move your stuff into my office.__" _

_Her smile fell a little and for once she was glad he wasn__'__t able to see her. __"__What do you mean?__" __She knew what he meant, of course she knew, but she didn__'__t want to say it out loud._

_Marcus laughed nervously. __"__You know, Teresa__… __I know you haven__'__t accepted my proposal yet, but in case we want to make room for a new family member__…" _

He was talking about a dog, right? Please let him say it is a dog! _"__Wow__… __uh__… __yeah__…__I__…"_

"_We don__'__t have to decide anything now, Teresa. I know everything is going fast, but I__'__d really like if we could not close the door on this option, okay?__"_

"_Yeah__… __Listen, I have to go, we have a case.__" __She was glad he couldn__'__t see all the color had drowned from her face. _

"_Of course, Love. I__'__ll see you tomorrow evening. I love you.__" _

"_Me too__…"_

Marcus was in his early 40s… he wanted to be a father. Not just _a_ father, the father of their child. Marcus Pike Junior. Oh God.

Lisbon took three deep breaths so she would not panic. This was not the right time to be thinking about this. She wondered if there ever would be the right time. It wasn't like she didn't love kids and want to be a mother herself, but she'd raised three boys when she was very, very young… She loved her new job, too! Marcus earned enough for both of them, but she didn't want to become a housewife. Also, she wasn't young anymore. Even if she was fit and healthy, there would always be a risk of miscarriage.

"Stop it. Everything is going to be fine. You don't have to decide anything," Lisbon told herself. It was just the usual panic every bride felt before her wedding. She'd dealt with lots of problems before.

Once Marcus arrived, things would be a little easier, at least she hoped so. He was calm, he was sure about this, he could help her make decisions, maybe even take some of the responsibility from her.

"_If this wedding puts too much pressure on you, I__'__ll buy the next available tickets to Vegas. Just say the word, okay?__" __He took her hand and kissed the finger with the too loose engagement ring. _

Lisbon glanced at her hand, the too loose ring reflecting the dark orange of the streetlights. It looked almost like a warning signal.

Oh, she was a terrible, terrible fiancée! She loved Marcus, loved him very much. He was a good lover, too, just not her… love. If her mom were still alive, she'd have been happy her daughter had a good man like him at her side. Marcus was a good man. He was stable, dependable, sweet… perfect for her. And he loved her, he'd told her so many times. The thing was she hadn't.

She swallowed hard. She couldn't think of a moment when she had ever told him she loved him. Three simple words, _I love you. _There was the occasional "love you" before she hung up the phone, and the regular "you too" whenever he told her he loved her… but she'd never said it.

Was it because she still loved Jane?

She drew in a sharp breath at the thought which had just crept into her head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! No Teresa, this is not the place and not the time. He broke your heart – more than once!"

She'd successfully pushed any deeper thought of Jane away for the last few weeks, but now that he was here in Chicago, everything came rushing back. She had to close the door on this, once and for all. She was going to marry Marcus. They would spend their honeymoon in the Caribbean and would return home after two weeks. If Marcus still wanted to have children, maybe they could try. It didn't mean it had to work. Everything was fine.

"Everything is fine, Teresa. You can deal with Jane and Carmen, you have dealt with them before. Everything is going to be fine."

Maybe, if she repeated it often enough, she'd finally start to believe it. God, why the hell was the feeling this wedding was a huge mistake not going away?

For a moment she wanted to decide everything was Jane's fault, but even he couldn't be held responsible for everything. Fischer was right. She'd held him responsible for a lot of things lately – with good reason to.

"This is all so messed up," she mumbled.

Xxxxx

Everything happened way too fast for her to react. She was driving down Interstate 90 toward the airport. Soon, she'd have to switch to the 194, which would take her directly to the airport. A car had been following her for a while, but she hadn't bothered to check, because there were more important things to think about. Lots of people could be driving toward the airport tonight.

A black van sheered out of the line right behind the car behind her and sped up until it was even with hers. The window was down, and a man dressed in black pointed a gun and shot. Lisbon looked to her left, shocked at what was going to happen, but the first shot had already hit her windshield, which cracked.

She ducked down, losing control over the vehicle, which made a rapid turn to the right when the tires were hit by bullets and exploded. It spun around twice, hitting the grass verge next to the road. Lisbon yelped in pain when her head met the airbag in the driver's wheel and the car was stopped by a tree which threw her forward once more. The already damaged windshield shattered.

Her head was spinning and hurting, her vision unclear so she had to close her eyes; her breath was coming out in sharp hitches. She heard a car stop and looked for her gun to protect herself. _Please, please, please, no__… __no__…_

She needed her gun, she needed to stay conscious.

"Lisbon! Lisbon, can you hear me?"

"Jane…?" she whispered, surprised. She must be dreaming. How else could Jane be with her now?

"It's okay, Teresa, I'm going to open the door now. You have to help me. You have to push!" She felt him tugging at the door, but it wouldn't open. "Please, Teresa, it's damaged, you have to push." However, she didn't have the power to push the door open. Her head was thumping like crazy and suddenly she tasted blood. She must have bitten her lip when her head hit the airbag.

Jane's attempts to open the door stopped, so for a moment it looked like he'd really been just a hallucination. But then the door of the passenger seat opened.

Jane climbed into the vehicle, his facial expression blank and horrified. "I'm going to unfasten your seatbelt and pull you out of the car now Lisbon. Careful…"

Lisbon heard the click of the seatbelt and felt two hands pull her closer to the passenger side. "Can you move your legs?" Jane asked, concerned.

She could only nod. With a lot of effort, Jane managed to pull her out of the vehicle, picked her up and carried her to his waiting car. It was the car which had been following Lisbon.

"My head," she whispered, shutting her eyes once more, burying her face in his shoulder. He smelled nice, comforting even. Jane had always had this special smell – half cologne and half him. She felt him pressing a kiss on her forehead when he opened the backseat door with one hand to carefully let her down.

"I know, Lisbon, I know… You're bleeding." Within seconds, he pulled a handkerchief out of his trouser pocket and wiped away the blood from her lips. His fingers accidentally brushed them, which made Lisbon open her eyes once more.

"How… Why are you here?"

"Annie told me not to let you out of my sight – a very good choice," Jane explained. He was really thankful he'd made himself follow Lisbon to the airport. His gut feeling had once more been right.

"There was a car…"

"I know. I got the license plate. They came up behind me and before I could do anything they started shooting at your car. I don't think they wanted to kill you though. The man with the gun was a very good shot. I think Carmen wanted to scare you."

"He did." She looked up into his eyes, slowly regaining control over her mind. Her head still hurt like hell, but she could manage to keep her eyes open for longer than two seconds. "You saved me, Jane."

Jane gave her a sad smile. "I'm always going to save you Lisbon, whether you like it or not. Is your head the only thing hurting?"

"Yes… It's just the shock, I think. I'm not injured… I hope."

"Oh Lisbon…" He cupped her cheek with his hand and she leaned into his touch. It felt good to be touched by him, almost natural. His hands were so soft and warm, so comforting. It was nice. After a moment, she lifted her head again, so Jane pulled his hand away.

"I should wait for Fischer and Cho…"

"No… wait." It took her some effort to scoot over, but she managed to make enough space so Jane could sit with her. "Don't leave."

Jane looked at her, his expression still full of fear for her. She was glad he'd been following her. Under any other circumstances she'd read him the riot act, but now…

He sighed, whether it was relief or tension she couldn't say, and got into the car next to her. He put an arm around her shoulders, careful to not touch her hurting head. Lisbon leaned into him, dropping her head against his chest. She could hear his frantic heart beat. Still, it was soothing her, calming her down, and for the first time in six months she was happy to have him with her.


End file.
